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French flop Pioline latest upset victim at Wimbledon
Posted: Wednesday June 28, 2000 11:45 AM
LONDON (Reuters) -- Sixth seed Cedric Pioline, a finalist at Wimbledon three years ago, was dumped out of this year's championships in the second round on Wednesday by Vladimir Voltchkov, a qualifier ranked only 237 in the world. Belarussian Voltchkov, who reached 106 in the world last year before a shoulder injury put him of action, defeated Pioline 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 3-6, 6-4 in an epic match on court three. Pioline, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year and a semifinalist at the U.S. Open, was partly responsible for his own downfall with a string of double faults at crucial moments. He hit four in a row to give away the break that handed Voltchkov the opening set and another to surrender the only break of the second set. "I broke myself," said Pioline. "It was a long way from how I can play." Pioline, who helped France to get to the Davis Cup final last year, pulled back from two sets down to level the match, despite being disturbed by chants of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" from the next court where Alicia Molik was losing to American Amy Frazier. He threw himself around the court in his eagerness to take the fourth set, once colliding with a ballgirl at the net and later skidding across the grass on his back. But early in the deciding set he was broken, again hitting a double fault to help Voltchkov. Pioline, 31, broke back in the seventh game, but then gave Voltchkov two match points in the 10th game when he struck another double fault. The Frenchman saved the first with a service winner, but saw a forehand return whistle past him on the second as Voltchkov seized victory in three hours. Pioline, nine years older than his opponent, said age was not a factor on Wednesday. "When you are out of form, you are out of form. If you are 15 years old or 50 years old it's the same." But he said the short break between the French Open, where he reached the last 16, and Wimbledon had not helped. "They should listen to the players who want a bit more time between the tournaments," Pioline said. Voltchkov, who reached the Wimbledon third round last year after defeating 15th seed Karol Kucera, now faces Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui.
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