LONDON, June 21 - As she faced her latest match point, it was easy to think that Justine Henin-Hardenne had her latest opponent exactly where she wanted her.
The Belgian has made an excellent habit of extricating herself from compromising positions on the most important tennis courts of the world, and earlier this month in Paris, she went on to win the French Open after saving two match points against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round.
What a surprise then today to see the Belgian's second serve strike the tape and land on the wrong side of a white line.
There will be no second successive Grand Slam title for Henin-Hardenne, who had not lost a match since March. Despite her natural affinity for grass and her rare ability to hit a fine approach shot followed by a decisive volley under pressure, she could not manage to overcome her lack of preparation and her opponent, Eleni Daniilidou, to make it past the first round at Wimbledon.
Daniilidou, who came into this match with a record of 8-12 this season, held surprisingly firm on the fresh, deep green grass of Court One to win 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 7-5.
The Greek veteran, whose olive skin and flair for the dramatic dovetail nicely with her nationality, was much steadier from the ground than the Belgian, who made unforced errors in bunches, particularly off her forehand wing. Daniilidou was also slightly steadier from the service line, as Henin-Hardenne finished with 11 double faults, including two in what turned out to be the final game.
But down the stretch, as Henin-Hardenne went for her shots and pushed forward to the net with much greater regularity, it was still difficult to believe that Daniilidou was going to pull off this major upset.
True, she had beaten Henin-Hardenne in their only previous match on grass, but that was three years ago at a Wimbledon tune-up in the Netherlands before Henin-Hardenne had shaken off her reputation for getting tight and become one of the game's best closers.
True, Daniilidou had pushed Maria Sharapova to three sets in the quarterfinals of the warm-up event in Birmingham earlier this month.
But Henin-Hardenne had appeared to move onto a higher plane in the final rounds in Paris: a precise and powerful place that boded well for the grass-court challenges to come even though clay remains her best surface.
Yet in the wake of her fourth Grand Slam singles title, she chose to take a break to allow a nagging hamstring injury to heal and to give her newly fragile constitution time to recover. Instead of playing a warm-up event on grass, she rested at home before traveling to England last week.
"It was very clear in my head; there is no choice; I took the good decision, and even today I can say that I took the good decision; my health is my biggest concern," said Henin-Hardenne, who was seeded No. 7 here but justly considered one of the leading contenders.
"I agree it's very hard to come here without any matches, because you need a few matches to get used to the surface," she said. "It's very hard to find a good rhythm in your first match, and when you play someone who likes to play on grass, it makes the mission even more difficult."
The imposing Daniilidou, who stands 5 feet 111/2 inches, is hardly an unknown player. She has reached the fourth round at the Australian Open and the French Open and did the same at Wimbledon in 2002.
But she has yet to make a major breakthrough, peaking at No. 14 in the rankings in 2003.
In a men's match today, 18-year-old Andy Murray of Britain made his Wimbledon debut, taking just three sets to defeat George Bastl of Switzerland. Murray, who is ranked No. 312 in the world romped over Bastl, ranked No. 146, by 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
"I wasn't really expecting to win," Murray said, according to The Associated Press. "He's maybe 200 places higher than me in the rankings and he's won against Sampras here, so I wasn't expecting to do so well.
The Belgian has made an excellent habit of extricating herself from compromising positions on the most important tennis courts of the world, and earlier this month in Paris, she went on to win the French Open after saving two match points against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the fourth round.
What a surprise then today to see the Belgian's second serve strike the tape and land on the wrong side of a white line.
There will be no second successive Grand Slam title for Henin-Hardenne, who had not lost a match since March. Despite her natural affinity for grass and her rare ability to hit a fine approach shot followed by a decisive volley under pressure, she could not manage to overcome her lack of preparation and her opponent, Eleni Daniilidou, to make it past the first round at Wimbledon.
Daniilidou, who came into this match with a record of 8-12 this season, held surprisingly firm on the fresh, deep green grass of Court One to win 7-6 (10-8), 2-6, 7-5.
The Greek veteran, whose olive skin and flair for the dramatic dovetail nicely with her nationality, was much steadier from the ground than the Belgian, who made unforced errors in bunches, particularly off her forehand wing. Daniilidou was also slightly steadier from the service line, as Henin-Hardenne finished with 11 double faults, including two in what turned out to be the final game.
But down the stretch, as Henin-Hardenne went for her shots and pushed forward to the net with much greater regularity, it was still difficult to believe that Daniilidou was going to pull off this major upset.
True, she had beaten Henin-Hardenne in their only previous match on grass, but that was three years ago at a Wimbledon tune-up in the Netherlands before Henin-Hardenne had shaken off her reputation for getting tight and become one of the game's best closers.
True, Daniilidou had pushed Maria Sharapova to three sets in the quarterfinals of the warm-up event in Birmingham earlier this month.
But Henin-Hardenne had appeared to move onto a higher plane in the final rounds in Paris: a precise and powerful place that boded well for the grass-court challenges to come even though clay remains her best surface.
Yet in the wake of her fourth Grand Slam singles title, she chose to take a break to allow a nagging hamstring injury to heal and to give her newly fragile constitution time to recover. Instead of playing a warm-up event on grass, she rested at home before traveling to England last week.
"It was very clear in my head; there is no choice; I took the good decision, and even today I can say that I took the good decision; my health is my biggest concern," said Henin-Hardenne, who was seeded No. 7 here but justly considered one of the leading contenders.
"I agree it's very hard to come here without any matches, because you need a few matches to get used to the surface," she said. "It's very hard to find a good rhythm in your first match, and when you play someone who likes to play on grass, it makes the mission even more difficult."
The imposing Daniilidou, who stands 5 feet 111/2 inches, is hardly an unknown player. She has reached the fourth round at the Australian Open and the French Open and did the same at Wimbledon in 2002.
But she has yet to make a major breakthrough, peaking at No. 14 in the rankings in 2003.
In a men's match today, 18-year-old Andy Murray of Britain made his Wimbledon debut, taking just three sets to defeat George Bastl of Switzerland. Murray, who is ranked No. 312 in the world romped over Bastl, ranked No. 146, by 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.
"I wasn't really expecting to win," Murray said, according to The Associated Press. "He's maybe 200 places higher than me in the rankings and he's won against Sampras here, so I wasn't expecting to do so well.