Morrison makes most of Ferrero's lack of practice

After losing to Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets in the first round, Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman declared that the Centre Court was slow enough to be a clay court. Juan Carlos Ferrero, the beaten finalist on the red stuff at the French Open 19 days ago, would dispute that after being beaten, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6, by Jeff Morrison, a lucky loser, in the second round.

Ferrero, the ninth seed, decided to sample the Wimbledon lawns for the first time last year, in spite of criticism of the seeding system by some of his Spanish compatriots. He advanced to the third round, impressing many observers with the quality of his ground strokes.

Yesterday, however, the 22-year-old from Valencia seemed to be carrying some of the clay from Roland Garros in his shoes as he strove to counter the enthusiastic attacking game of his American opponent.

Morrison, a 23-year-old from West Virginia who majored in sports management at the University of Florida, joins Pete Sampras's conquerer, George Bastl, of Switzerland, as a second lucky loser in the third round. It is the first time since 1991 that two players who failed in the final round of qualifying at Roehampton have progressed this far.

As the highest-ranked player in the qualifying tournament, Morrison knew he was in line for a place in the main draw in the event of a withdrawal. He gained a place when Tommy Haas, of Germany, went to Florida to be with his parents, who had been injured in a motorcycle accident.

Although making his Wimbledon debut, Morrison, No 98 in the world, was better prepared than Ferrero for the grass courts. After losing to Albert Costa in the French Open final, Ferrero took a few days off and then practised on synthetic grass in Spain. Morrison won the Surbiton ATP Tour challenger event and then reached the second round of the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club before heading for Roehampton.

Morrison served and volleyed with such conviction yesterday that Ferrero was unable to get into the match until trailing 1-5 in the second set. The Spaniard won the next four games, only for Morrison to break for 6-5, serving out the set to love with a backhand volley and an ace.

Morrison struggled to crack Ferrero's serve in the third set, the Spaniard saving five break points at 3-3 and two more at 4-4. As Ferrero's passing shots began to bite, Morrison had to save two set points at 5-6. He then trailed 1-4 in the tie-break, breaking back for 4-4. Although he double-faulted on his first match point, at 6-4, Morrison converted the second with a solid service return at 6-5.

"I think I could have done more in the tie-break," Ferrero said. "But he hit the ball very strong all the time. His volley was very good. He played a good match."

Ferrero is the latest example of a player experiencing difficulty making the transition from the final stages of the French Open clay to Wimbledon's grass without a warm-up tournament in between. Then again, we cannot all be Bjorn Borg.

"If I lose in the first week at Roland Garros, maybe I'm going to play in two tournaments before Wimbledon," Ferrero said. "But you have to understand, if I lose the semi-finals or the final [in Paris], I don't have time to practise on grass. I don't have time to go to the first grass-court tournament, but maybe I can go to the second."

Mario Ancic, the 18-year-old qualifier from Croatia who eliminated Roger Federer, the seventh seed, in straight sets in the opening round, was unable to make a similar impression on Jan Vacek, of the Czech Republic. Vacek, ranked No 80, barely wavered in winning, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5, and was helped by Ancic's 10 double-faults.