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But the U.S. women continue to dominate at Wimbledon.
Compiled from Times wires
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 29, 2002
WIMBLEDON, England -- Add Andy Roddick to the list of early losers at Wimbledon. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, too.
On Friday, halfway through the third round, there were two ways to look at the men's tournament: Either there's impressive depth ... or no one wants to win.
Roddick was humbled by serve-and-volley specialist Greg Rusedski 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 on Centre Court, after two-time major champion Kafelnikov, seeded fifth, seemed to stop fighting late in his 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, 6-1 loss to Xavier Malisse.
"This is anybody's game," said No. 27 Malisse, a Belgian who has never won a tournament and has never been past the fourth round of a Grand Slam. "If somebody wants to win it from the outside, this is the year to do it."
Only two of the top 15 men are still playing -- No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 4 Tim Henman, slated to meet in the semifinals.
The highest-seeded player in the draw's bottom half is No. 22 Nicolas Lapentti.
U.S. Open champion Hewitt and 1996 Wimbledon winner Richard Krajicek, who has played more matches this week than in the preceding 20 months because of elbow surgery, are the only Grand Slam title holders still playing.
With Roddick and Taylor Dent falling Friday, only one of the 14 U.S. men is left -- 98th-ranked Jeff Morrison. And if the former Florida standout loses to Sjeng Schalken today, it will be the first time in 80 years no American made it to the fourth round.
It is already the worst showing by U.S. men in the Open era since 1968: Never before had fewer than two made the round of 16.
"The overall state of American tennis isn't the best it's ever been," the 11th-seeded Roddick said.
For a dose of normalcy, though, take a look at the women.
Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati, who have won five of the past 11 majors (Serena's sister, Venus, has four in that span), reached the fourth round with straight-set wins.
So did No. 7 Jelena Dokic, No. 9 Amelie Mauresmo, No. 11 Daniela Hantuchova, and Chanda Rubin, once ranked as high as sixth but unseeded here because of lost play because of two knee operations in the last 18 months.
A surprise is Laura Granville, a qualifier from Key Biscayne. She beat two-time major champion Mary Pierce 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to make the last 16.
"Playing Mary Pierce, it almost didn't feel real," said Granville, who entered Wimbledon with a 0-2 tour record. "I can't really describe it."
Capriati blasted by No. 26 Daja Bedanova 6-4, 6-2, and Williams edged Belgian qualifier Els Callens 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2).
Williams lost serve in each set and had 22 unforced errors. She also had trouble with her footing, slipping often. In the 12th game, she tripped and fell hard on her right side in the doubles alley, leaving a streak of chalk on her leg.
Most courts have big brown patches along both baselines, where the grass is dry and worn. That's because the weather has been as odd as the results -- five days of sun and no rain.
The women complete the fourth round today -- top-seeded Venus Williams leads the program with what looks like a breeze match with No. 110-ranked Maureen Drake of Canada.
Roddick never had much of a chance against Rusedski, who was born in Canada but, thanks to his mother's origins, became a British citizen in 1995, and had plenty of Centre Court support.
Rusedski has the tour record for fastest serve, 149 mph, and won 40 of 46 points on his serve in the first two sets. Roddick had two break points, both in the third set.
He set up one in the third game with a belly flop, net-cord passing shot, but wasted it with an unforced error backhand. The other came in the fifth game, but Rusedski pounded an ace at 133 mph.
"By the time I started returning well," Roddick said, "it was pretty much sealed up."
Roddick can serve well also. He shares the Wimbledon record of 144 mph, but double faulted in three of the four games in which he was broken.
"I have a lot of work to do," said Roddick, who had not been beaten in straight sets at a major. "I don't know if there's just one magical thing that's going to turn it around."
Few of the surprise-springers have had staying power.
George Bastl, Paradorn Srichaphan and Olivier Rochus -- the trio who sent Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin home in the second round -- were beaten.
Wayne Arthurs simply had more power than Dent, the laid-back Californian with the 140-mph serve. Unable to break the serve of the Australian, Dent could not come up with the critical points in three of the four tiebreakers, losing 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5).
"That's my first where it's been all tiebreakers," said Dent, who had 13 aces to Arthurs' 32. "I think a loss is a loss. If I go out there and lose 0, 0, and 0 or if it's four tiebreakers, it's frustrating both ways. But I can walk off the court and say he had to play that good to beat me, and that's a good feeling."
Srichaphan lost 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2 to Krajicek. The 6-foot-5, 196-pound Dutchman is playing his second tournament since career-threatening elbow surgery in November 2000. He also has had problems with his right leg and bleeding toes.
"It's nice to live in these times," said Krajicek, who faces another huge server, Mark Philippoussis, for a quarterfinal berth.
"Maybe 20, 30 years ago, I would have had to take one, two, three years off or maybe I never would have been able to play again."
Even he seems unaware of how much strength he has back in his right arm. After beating Paradorn, Krajicek celebrated by hitting a ball into the stands.
The ball cleared the crowd and landed on the roof.