Henin-Hardenne makes shock exit - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Henin-Hardenne makes shock exit

22/06/2005 05:35:01 AM Comments (0)

French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne made a shock first round exit from Wimbledon on Tuesday when she lost 7-6 2-6 7-5 to Eleni Daniilidou of Greece.

The 2001 Wimbledon runner-up, who opted not to play a grasscourt warm-up event after her victory at Roland Garros earlier this month, produced an error-riddled display on Court One and Daniilidou took full advantage.

Both players had trouble serving and the Greek world number 76 took the first set tiebreak on her fifth set point, helped by a dubious line call.

Seventh seed Henin-Hardenne raced through the second set but Daniilidou shrugged off a leg injury in the third to score a major upset, with the Belgian conceding defeat after another of the double-faults that had plagued her throughout.

Daniilidou will face either Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic or American Laura Granville in round two.

Twice former champion Serena Williams was severely tested by lowly-ranked fellow American Angela Haynes before winning 6-7 6-4 6-2 in the first round.

The fourth seed, who won Wimbledon in 2002 and 2003 and reached last year's final, looked distinctly uncomfortable on court two during the first set which she lost 14-12 after an exhausting tiebreak.

Williams recovered her composure to take the second set with a decisive break for 5-4 and 20-year-old Haynes, ranked 104 in the world, finally ran out of steam in the decider.

Williams will hope for an easier time against Italian qualifier Mara Santangelo in the second round. She could face older sister Venus in round four.

Defending champion Maria Sharapova dominated Nuria Llagostera Vives in the first round at Wimbledon, beating the Spaniard 6-2 6-2.

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