Krajicek defenceless against `Henmania’

These two along with Iva Majoli and Denisa Chladkova (Slovakia) combined to make Wimbledon history, becoming the first quartet of teenagers in the quarter-final round. However, they battled each other and Hingis and Kournikova ran out easy winners with the top seed beating Chladkova in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.

If anybody had to be blamed for Krajicek’s defeat it had to be the defending champion himself. He showed none of the characteristics that are normally associated with a Wimbledon champion. There were no signs of him coming back when he lost the first set. The pressure of the vociferious crowd and Henman’s tremendous serving capability got him so badly that he was a bundle of nerves.

Incidentally, he had been in an exactly similar situation last year, when he was playing the then defending champion Pete Sampras. Krajicek was on a huge high then and had almost blown Sampras off the court when play was suspended. He came back the next day to complete the demolition job. Yesterday, Henman’s best ally in the biggest ever victory of his career was supreme confidence and the ability to believe in himself. He had nothing to lose and played exactly that way. In a match which had so little separating the two, Henman converted one break point more than Krajicek. That got him the match. In the process, Krajicek displayed a poor side of his mental ability believing that Henman was rather unbeatable. Today, the Briton was merely good player made invincible by some 11,000 throats.

Krajicek had the third set in his pocket when he got the break but put so much pressure on his own serve that Henman pounced on it to level scores. “It’s a shame that somehow I couldn’t play my best tennis at the moment that I wanted to. But I served very badly. He didn’t have to do much, just put the ball in the court. I missed two easy volleys, and misjudged one volley, and that was a terrible break,” Krajicek said, later.

The good thing is nobody expected Krajicek to win the title here again and so he didn’t disappoint many. He was destined to be a one-off champion like Pat Cash or any of the other one-time winners and it is just unfortunate that he had to lose to Henman who is riding a tidal wave of euphoria.“It was obviously better to be up 2-1 than down 2-1 but still there was a long way to go,” Henman said. “I wanted to concentrate on my serve, I wasn’t going to worry too much about his. If there were going to be opportunities, I would try to take them. But the objective was just to try and hold on to my own serve. I started to make a few returns and got an opportunity in the fifth game,” Henman said.

“I was very happy with the way I was playing yesterday, so there is a possibility that you come out today and not play as well. But I wanted to just continue with the thought that I had served very well yesterday and continued that today. I had only break point and came up with some big serves at the right time.”

Meanwhile, three-time champion and top seed Pete Sampras had a momentary lapse in concentration which cost him two sets against Petr Korda. But he showed once again what a great champion he is to break Korda in the first game of the fifth set and then held on to his serve to win 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (8), 6-7 (1), 6-4 to set up the epic clash with Boris Becker.

The American was up a set and a break in the second set when play was suspended yesterday. Korda, on the other hand, played his heart out but Sampras was willing to give nothing away. The world No.1 was surprisingly low key in the third and fourth sets and it was his great confidence that he has on his own serve which pulled him through.

Men’s singles (4th round): 1-Pete Sampras (US) bt Petr Korda (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-3 6-7 (8-10) 6-7 (1-7) 6-4, 14-Tim Henman (Britain) bt 4-Richard Krajicek (Netherlands) 7-6 (9-7) 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.Women’s singles (quarter-finals): 1-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) bt Denisa Chladkova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-2, 3-Jana Novotna (Czech Republic) bt Yayuk Basuki (Indonesia) 6-3 6-3, Anna Kournikova (Russia) bt 4-Iva Majoli (Croatia) 7-6 (7-1) 6-4.

Fourth round: 4-Iva Majoli (Croatia) bt 12-Irina Spirlea (Romania) 6-7 (8-10) 6-1 9-7.

Nicolas Kiefer vs Todd Woodbridge

Greg Rusedski vs Cedric Pioline

Pete Sampras vs Boris Becker

Michael Stich vs Tim Henman