Long-Overdue Debut A Bust For Venus Williams
The heavens finally ran out of the watery ammunition that brought Wimbledon to a history-making standstill, but when Venus Williams finally made the vaunted Wimbledon debut that had been on hold since Monday, she wound up wishing it had never stopped raining.
Williams, 17, whose purple, green and white beaded headdress took its cue from this Grand Slam tournament’s color scheme, certainly looked the part. She sauntered onto Court One to face a far less heralded yet far more experienced teenage opponent in 18-year-old Magdalena Grzybowska of Poland. But after holding her own in the opening set, the 59th-ranked Williams went into an abrupt tailspin in the second and then failed to blast her way out of confusion in the third. Instead of keeping her star on the rise here at Wimbledon, the Grand Slam she has her heart set on winning, Williams succumbed, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
It was a comeback crafted with care, if not spectacular shotmaking, by the 91st-ranked Pole, thanks in part to an unconvincing debut from Williams. In her own third appearance at Wimbledon, Grzybowska played her way into the second round for the first time.
In the two major upsets of the second round, Goran Ivanisevic served a Wimbledon record 46 aces but lost to Magnus Norman, and 10th-seeded Carlos Moya, the Australian Open runner-up from Spain, was defeated 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 by 31-year-old Richey Reneberg. The American hadn’t reached the third round since 1987.
The huge backlog of matches forced officials to schedule play on the middle Sunday of the Wimbledon fortnight for only the second time.
Ivanisevic, the No. 2 seed from Croatia, was ousted by Sweden’s Norman, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 14-12. Although he beat John Feaver’s 21-year-old record of 42 aces set against John Newcombe, Ivanisevic also served 19 double faults. Coincidentally, Feaver also lost.
Twelve years after his first triumph, eighth-seeded Boris Becker scored a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Sweden’s Thomas Johansson on Centre Court. He has not dropped a set in his two matches as he aims for his first Wimbledon title since 1989.
Though Wimbledon lost its most famous debutante Saturday, several other luminaries coasted quickly through their workouts. Top-seeded Martina Hingis, who at 16 has already won an Australian Open title this year and last year won Wimbledon’s doubles crown, reached the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Olga Barabanschikova. And ninth-seeded Mary Pierce, who wore shorts in the completion of her much-delayed first round match against Dominque Van Roost, prevailed 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, defending champion Richard Krajicek rallied to reach the third round by beating Wimbledon newcomer Andrei Pavel of Romania.
The Dutchman went two sets to one down on Court 2, which is known as “the graveyard of champions.” But Krajicek recovered for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (7-4), 6-3, 6-3 victory.
xxxx SATURDAY AT WIMBLEDON Men’s second-round winners included: No. 1 Pete Sampras, No. 4 Richard Krajicek, No. 8 Boris Becker. Women’s second-round winners included: No. 1 Martina Hingis, No. 4 Iva Majoli, No. 7 Anke Huber, No. 10 Conchita Martinez. Upsets: Magnus Norman upset No. 2 Goran Ivanisevic and Richey Reneberg upset No. 10 Carlos Moya.