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MADRID, Oct 16: A distracted Tim Henman was hustled out of the Madrid Masters 3-6 6-3 6-3 by in-form Paradorn Srichaphan in an untidy second round clash Wednesday.
Henman, the British number four seed, clearly had the impending birth of his first child on his mind as he let slip a 2-0 lead in the final set to lose in one hour 58 minutes to the Thai number one, who beat Gustavo Kuerten Tuesday.
Roger Federer, in seventh place at the start of the week, was quick to capitalise, the Swiss 12th seed overcoming an early blip that saw him fall 2-0 down in the first to see off Chilean Marcelo Rios 6-4 6-2 in 66 minutes.
Fifteenth seed Thomas Johansson also had a good day as he beat fellow Swede Magnus Norman 2-6 6-3 6-4.
American Andy Roddick failed to get the win he needed, though, losing 6-3 6-4 to the Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
While most of the top players in Madrid had Shanghai on their minds, Henman was struggling to concentrate with his wife Lucy due to give birth this weekend.
Henman started slowly, losing his opening service game, but at 1-3 down he reeled off five successive games to take the first set in 35 minutes.
Henman also had break points at the start of the second, but Paradorn came back from 0-40 to hold and broke in game six to take the match into a deciding set.
Henman took a 2-0 lead but was unable to hold his advantage as Paradorn, growing in confidence with every shot, broke his opponent twice for a deserved win.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding):
Second round: 2-Andre Agassi (U.S.) beat Jan-Michael Gambill (U.S.) 6-4 6-4; Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat 14-Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) 7-6 (11-9) 6-4; 12-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Marcelo Rios (Chile) 6-4 6-2; David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat 13-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 4-6 6-3 6-3; Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) beat 10-Andy Roddick (U.S.) 6-3 6-4; Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat 4-Tim Henman (Britain) 3-6 6-3 6-3; 15-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat Magnus Norman (Sweden) 2-6 6-3 6-4
ZURICH: Top seed Jennifer Capriati was crushed by Spaniard Conchita Martinez 6-0 6-3 in the second round of the Swisscom Challenge Wednesday after suffering an injury to her ankle.
The match began as a one-sided affair with former Wimbledon champion Martinez continuing to recover her old form, which was evident in her first-round defeat of Swiss hope Myriam Casanova, to hit winners with ease.
The match was Capriati’s first after being handed a bye through the opening stages and she admitted that a lack of match experience on the slow indoor courts made it difficult to get going.
The 30-year-old, who opened the match with a comfortable service game, went on to break her American opponent three times on the way to an impressive love set which left Capriati’s head bowed.
Martinez, ranked 47th in the world, extended her astonishing run of winning games to seven with another easy service game to open the second set.
Capriati’s hopes took a further blow when she was forced to call for the trainer after twisting her ankle during the start of the second set.
Martinez took the opportunity to practise her serves as Capriati was attended to by the side of the court, but the American refused to give up and returned to the baseline to play out the match.
Although unable to put any weight on her injured and heavily strapped left ankle, Capriati’s tentative opening steps after treatment showed signs of promise and she won her first game of the match.
The games then went with serve until the sixth, when Martinez got the break and nudged within sight of victory by taking the score to 4-2.
Capriati continued her stubborn resistance by hitting through a love service game in the next, but Martinez finally served out the match to claim only her third quarterfinal spot of the year.
The in-form Spaniard will meet either Yugoslav Jelena Dokic or American Alexandra Stevenson in the next round.
Results:
Second round: 4-Justine Henin (Belgium) beat Anna Smashnova (Israel) 6-3 6-1; Conchita Martinez (Spain) beat 1-Jennifer Capriati (U.S.) 6-0 6-3
BRATISLAVA: Results from the $110,000 Bratislava Open WTA tennis tournament on Wednesday:
First round: 4-Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat Galina Fokina (Russia) 6-4 3-6 6-4; 6-Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzbekistan) beat Alina Jidkova (Russia) 6-4 6-4; Rossana Neffa-de los Rios (Paraguay) beat Silvija Talaja (Croatia) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1
Second round: 3-Rita Grande (Italy) beat Ashley Harkleroad (U.S.) 6-4 6-2; Emilie Loit (France) beat Mariana Diaz-Oliva (Argentina) 6-1 4-6 7-5—Reuters
