LONDON, June 21: Justine Henin-Hardenne’s fragile hopes of winning the only grand slam missing from her collection were dashed on Tuesday when she lost in the first round at Wimbledon. Tim Henman, once again shouldering a nation’s dreams for a first British men’s champion in 69 years, survived.

But only just.

The 30-year-old’s toothless display left the Centre Court crowd on the edge of its seats before he finally overcame obscure Finn Jarkko Nieminen 3-6 6-7 6-4 7-5 6-2.

French Open champion Henin-Hardenne learnt the harsh reality of Henman’s maxim the tough way.

She had no answer to Greek Eleni Daniilidou’s weight of shot and went down 7-6 2-6 7-5.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova failed to match the sparkle of her 18 carat gold tennis shoes in the opening of her defence, but still advanced 6-2 6-2 over claycourter Nuria Llagostera Vives.

However the scoreline had as much to do with the Spaniard’s unease on the slick grass as the champion’s prowess.

Men’s second seed Andy Roddick was far more impressive, thumping Czech Jiri Vanek 6-1 7-6 6-2.

The man with the world’s fastest serve cracked 14 aces past his opponent as he racked up victory in 82 minutes.

Arriving at Wimbledon as the Stella Artois champion for the third successive year, Roddick will face Italian Daniele Bracciali next.

Bracciali won a nerve-shredding, five-set match against 6ft 10ins (2.08m) Ivo Karlovic 6-7 7-6 3-6 7-6 12-10.

Roddick was joined in the second round by fellow American Venus Williams who breezed past Eva Birnerova 6-2 6-4.

Younger sister Serena, seeded fourth this year, was to mee fellow American Angela Haynes later on Tuesday.

British wildcard Andrew Murray crowned his grand slam debut with a 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory over George Bastl.

Bastl is best known for beating seven-times champion Pete Sampras in the American’s last trip to Wimbledon in 2002.

But on the same court on which he recorded that milestone win, the Swiss journeyman was no match for 18-year-old Murray.

Murray, who faces Radek Stepanek next, is refusing to get carried away, though.

Later Justine Henin-Hardenne said she had no regrets about her lack of preparation for Wimbledon despite her shock first round defeat by Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou on Tuesday.

“I had no choice, I took the right decision because my health is my biggest concern right now,” said the 2001 Wimbledon runner-up after her 7-6 2-6 7-5 loss on Court One.

Henin-Hardenne has been suffering with a hamstring problem and, after winning the French Open 17 days ago, she declined the chance to play a warm-up tournament on grass before this year’s Wimbledon.

“I knew I didn’t have the best preparation for coming here and that was the worst draw I could get,” added the seventh seed who also lost on grass to Daniilidou at Den Bosch in 2002.

“It’s pretty hard but that’s tennis, that’s life. You have good moments and you have harder moments but you have to keep going.”

Results:

Men’s singles (first round)

Guillermo Coria (ARG) bt Tomas Behrend (GER) 6-1, 6-2, 6-2; Jiri Novak (CZE) bt Peter Wessels (NED) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-4; Andrew Murray (GBR) bt George Bastl (SUI) 6-4, 6-2, 6-2; Andy Roddick (USA) bt Jiri Vanek (CZE) 6-1, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2; Alex Calatrava (ESP) bt Tuomas Ketola (FIN) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4; Danai Udomchoke (THA) bt Stefan Koubek (AUT) 5-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 8-6; Jurgen Melzer (AUT) bt Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; Fabrice Santoro (FRA) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 6-2, 6-7 (7/9), 7-5, 6-1; Radek Stepanek (CZE) bt Robby Ginepri (USA) 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-4, 6-2; Davide Sanguinetti (ITA) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA) 6-3, 6-2, 6-1; Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP) 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4), 6-1; Janko Tipsarevic (SEM) bt Tommy Haas (GER) 6-2, 2-1 – retd; Daniele Bracciali (ITA) bt Ivo Karlovic (CRO) 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (10/8), 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 12-10; Tim Henman (GBR) bt Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 3-6, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-5, 6-2; Richard Gasquet (FRA) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE) bt Arnaud Clement (FRA) 7-6 (7/4), 0-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; Alexander Popp (GER) bt Jerome Haehnel (FRA) 6-2, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) bt David Ferrer (ESP) 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (9/7); Igor Andreev (RUS) bt Robin Soderling (SWE) 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-1, 7-5; Gilles Muller (LUX) bt Felix Mantilla (ESP) 5-4 – retired; Wayne Arthurs (AUS) bt Filippo Volandri (ITA x32) 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; Xavier Malisse (BEL) bt Jonathan Marray (GBR) 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4; Novak Djokovic (SEM) bt Juan Monaco (ARG) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

Women’s singles (first round): Cho Yoon Jeong (KOR) bt Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) 6-3, 6-3; Kveta Peschke (CZE) bt Dally Randriantefy (MAD) 7-5, 6-1; Shahar Peer (ISR) bt Meilen Tu (USA) 6-3, 6-3; Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 6-3, 6-3; Vera Zvonereva (RUS) bt Marlene Weingartner (GER) 2-6, 6-4, 6-0; Maria Sharapova (RUS) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) 6-2, 6-2; Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) bt Evgenia Linetskaya (RUS) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; Venus Williams (USA) bt Eva Birnerova (CZE) 6-2, 6-4; Cara Black (ZIM) bt Zuzana Ondraskova (CZE) 6-3, 6-3; Severine Beltrame (FRA) bt Claudine Schaul (LUX) 6-2, 6-1; Kristina Brandi (PUR) bt Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 6-3, 3-6, 9-7; Nicole Pratt (AUS) bt Ludmila Cervanova (SVK) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1; Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) bt Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL) 7-6 (10/8), 2-6, 7-5; Marion Bartoli (FRA) bt Rika Fujiwara (JPN) 6-2, 6-2; Nadia Petrova (RUS) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (ESP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Conchita Martinez (ESP) bt Katerina Bondarenko (UKR) 6-1, 7-6 (7/4); Tatiana Panova (RUS) bt Lisa Raymond (USA) 7-5, 6-3; Sesil Karatancheva (BUL) bt Amanda Janes (GBR) 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 7-5; Laura Granville (USA) bt Klara Koukalova (CZE) 6-2, 6-1; Virginie Razzano (FRA) bt Catalina Castano (COL) 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-4; Nathalie Dechy (FRA) bt Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 7-6 (7/1), 6-1.—Agencies