Ancic's destruction of Federer looks helpful for Henman

Last year's conqueror of Sampras humbled by 18-year-old Croatian qualifier as two of men's top 10 seeds move out of Briton's path

One down, six to go. Tim Henman's latest challenge for the Wimbledon men's singles title opened on Court One with a comfortable win against Jean-François Bachelot, a French qualifier, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2. Bachelot, No 165 in the world, was so far out of his depth that he was unable to take the British No 1's serve to deuce, let alone create an opportunity to break.

"I wanted to make it as professional as possible," Henman said, adding, with reference to his wife, Lucy, who is expecting their first child in October: "I think if I can keep the matches of that nature, she'll appreciate it."

No sooner had the cheering for Henman subsided among the 14,500 spectators on the court, including Lucy, plus the hearty gathering on "Henman Hill", than attention transferred to dramatic events unfolding on Centre Court.

Mario Ancic, an 18-year-old qualifier from Goran Ivanisevic's home city of Split, was in the process of springing the first major upset of the tournament and demonstrating how inspired he had been by Ivanisevic's astonishing triumph as a wild card last year.

Ancic, who had not previously won a match in the main draw of an ATP Tour event, defeated Roger Federer, the seventh seed, 6-3, 7-6, 6-3. Federer, who ended Pate Sampras's sequence of 31 winning matches at Wimbledon in the fourth round last year, had been projected to meet Lleyton Hewitt, the world No 1, in the quarter-finals, with Henman a possible opponent in the semi-finals.

Nor were Henman's prospects handicapped when Sweden's Thomas Johansson, the eighth seed and Australian Open champion, was edged out of contention by Flavio Saretta, of Brazil, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 3-6, 12-10. Johansson had been fancied to test Henman in the quarter-finals.

Henman, of course, is not looking beyond his second round match against Scott Draper, 28, a left-handed Australian qualifier who won the Stella Artois Championship at Queen's Club in 1998. "He's a much more experienced player [than Bachelot]," Henman said, "and he's a good, natural grass-court player."

In their only previous match, Henman defeated Draper in straight sets in the first round of the 1998 United States Open. The following year, Draper's wife, Kellie, died of cystic fibrosis, and he came close to leaving the game.

Whatever happens between now and the final a week next Sunday, the image of the ecstatic Ancic as a Goran for a Day will be one to savour. The 20-year-old Federer has long been considered a Wimbledon champion in the making, but he never seemed likely to find a way back into yesterday's contest after Ancic won a second set tie-break, 7-2.

When the match ended, after an hour and 40 minutes, the Croatian, who won three matches on the courts at Roehampton last week to earn an opportunity to walk through the gates of the All England Club, seemed at a loss to know how to celebrate. Not wishing to strip to the waist à la Goran, he settled for raising his arms and thumping the air. "Goran is Goran, not me," Ancic said. "Goran is unique."

On Monday, Ancic spoke with Ivanisevic by telephone. "He just told me Federer has a great forehand and can serve good, but that sometimes I should attack him on the second serve. He was mostly slicing his backhand, sometimes hitting it. But I knew I had a chance, and I was serving good today."

Ancic has grown up knowing Goran. "When he was in Split, we always hit together, even when I was 10. We were in Davis Cup together, and played doubles in the Olympics. He was always good to me. Sometimes I felt like he was my bigger brother. I know I can always rely on him like yesterday, when I called him about tactics."

Neither Henman nor Rusedski, the British No 2, has yet set foot on Centre Court, where Hewitt's serving, movement and groundstrokes were too good for Jonas Bjorkman, of Sweden. The Australian won, 6-4, 7-5, 6-1, and after the match the experienced Bjorkman described Centre Court as being "like a clay court, it's so extremely slow."

Bjorkman, who won the Samsung Open in Nottingham last week, elaborated: "Obviously they've made some changes. The last four or five years, the Centre Court has been a lot slower than it was before. The first couple of years I came here, I was able to serve and volley. I think I've improved my serve, but on Centre Court today the ball sat up instead of taking off a little bit. It's really hard to play the volleys.

"I'm not trying to put up a bad excuse because I lost to the No 1 player in the world. Lleyton is a tough player to beat, no matter what the surface is. If you don't believe me that the Centre Court is slow, have a go yourself."

He added: "I think there were a lot of complaints when we had some matches with Krajicek and Ivanisevic, and people thought there was too much serving. But I think grass-court tennis is where you should play serve and volley. On Centre Court it's hard to do that, at least for me. Maybe Pete [Sampras] or someone, who has a better serve, can keep it doing it. But for me, it was way too hard."

A Wimbledon spokesman said: "Over the last couple of years, the grass has been made firmer. As a result, the ball, in a period of dry weather, bounces a little bit higher. This may give an impression that the court is slower. But, as the groundsman said, the ball is still coming through."

Hewitt commented: "I didn't find Centre Court a whole heap slower, maybe just a little slower than last year."