Wimbledon `97: Britain's day of broken dreams

WIMBLEDON '97: Henman and Rusedski fail to keep the flag flying as Stich and Pioline put a dampener on No 1 Court

It was nice while it lasted, but the Championships have now been returned to the overseas visitors.

Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski tried as hard as they could in the circumstances, but both were outplayed by superior opponents on the day. So ended Britain's dream of two men duelling in the semi-finals, one of whom would have advanced to the final for the first time since Bunny Austin met Donald Budge in 1938.

Rusedski, the Canadian-born British No 2, was unable to produce the consistency of serve or the efficiency of return to make a dent in the confidence of Cedric Pioline. The Frenchman won 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours precisely and will now meet Michael Stich, the 1991 champion.

The German required only an hour and 28 minutes to outclass Henman 6- 3, 6-2, 6-4. Henman, in common with Rusedski, was unable to rely on the efficiency of his serving, and Stich gained in confidence with virtually every winning shot. Henman said, "It was probably the worst experience of my life on a tennis court."

Henman's defeat means that there will be at least one unseeded finalist again. The 22 year old from Oxford, seeded No 14, experienced the misfortune of playing Stich when the 28-year-old German was in the mood and physical condition to make a mockery of his ranking of No 88 in the world.

Stich has announced that he will retire from Grand Slam tennis after Wimbledon, a decision taken because of a degenerative shoulder injury and the realisation that he has done roamin', or whatever the German equivalent is, and feels the need to sample life away from the tour. He arrived at the All England Club far from pleased with his season and determined to leave on as high a note as possible. Having exceeded most people's expectations, he now has the drive to fulfil his own by bidding auf weidershen on the Centre Court on Sunday, with or without the trophy in his hands.

Stich, it may be remembered, was the triumphant rain man of 1991 when the All England Club experienced its worst soaking until the past week or so. He defeated Stefan Edberg in three tie-break sets in the semi-finals and overpowered his illustrious compatriot, Boris Becker, in a final blessed with glorious sunshine.

Often lugubrious on the court, sometimes to the point of wearing the look of the chief mourner at his own funeral, Stich allowed himself a broad smile at the end of yesterday's performance, he raised his arms to his sparse but vociferous supporters and then tapped his racket in appreciation of the generous applause from the majority of the 11,000 who had come to the new No 1 Court in the hope of hailing British success. Stich was even moved to toss his two Wimbledon towels into the crowd, making the odd cynic or two wonder if he had a couple of pals who would come to place them on seats for today's matches.

Henman at this point had had enough of the proceedings. He did not wait for his opponent but walked off the court alone, sparing a modest wave for the thousands who still chanted his name.

Henman's match had barely started when the rain came to send the players back to the locker rooms for two hours and 43 minutes. Having been unable to take advantage of a break point, the Briton at least had the encouragement of knowing that he could attack the German's serve. When the players returned, however, Stich immediately put pressure on Henman's serve, and although this was saved the pattern of an all-to-brief contest was set: Stich on the offensive, Henman struggling to staunch the flow of points.

Such was the strain of trying to outwit his opponents that Henman began to feed Stich with double faults. He hit six in 15 serves in the concluding stages of the opening set, three of them in being broken to 5-3. The last of these may have startled even Stich, so far off the mark was Henman with both serves on the third break point of the game.

The German lost only one more point in serving out the set after 31 minutes. He then took advantage of Henman's seventh double fault to break for 2-1 in the second set, luring his opponent into hitting a back hand over the baseline by returning a second serve.

Henman had an opportunity to break back immediately when Stich double- faulted in the next game, but the German swept away the error with a stylish serve and forehand volley, leaving Henman to pick up his own serving errors where he had left off, hitting two more double faults to go l4-1 in arrears.

After taking a two sets to love lead with only an hour played, Stich did not allow Henman a point on his serve until the eighth game of the third set. The Briton salvaged one, and the other was a double fault. By this time Stich could afford to be generous.

Rusedski, whose lower back had troubled him on Saturday, said he felt no physical pain during yesterday's match with Pioline, but admitted to fatigue after a run of impressive form which has lasted through the tournaments at Queen's and Nottingham and enabled him to produce some of the best serve and volleying of his career until yesterday.

Two double faults in losing the opening game did nothing to steady Rusedski's nerve and Pioline, one of the finest returners of serve on the tour, settled into an exhibition of his all-round court craft.

He won the first set in only 26 minutes and quickly recovered after losing the second set. Whatever gains Rusedski imagined he had made, he was swiftly disabused when the Frenchman picked up his game and began to hit breathtaking passing shots, many of them when returning Rusedski's serves, which began to look less fearsome by the minute.

Pioline, by contrast, allowed Rusedski only three points off his serve in the fourth set, striding into the semi-finals by breaking the Briton with a backhand return, leaving Rusedski to shake his head in disappointment.

Hingis through to final, Results, page 30