Novak Djokovic was upset in straight sets by temperamental Russian Marat Safin in the second round yesterday, so he won't get to test his theory about Roger Federer being vulnerable at Wimbledon.
Marat Safin of Russia returns the ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during his 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-2 secondround victory at Wimbledon in London yesterday.
The No. 75-ranked Safin won 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Centre Court at the All England Club in London, stunning the 21-year-old Serbian player who was ranked third and came into Wimbledon full of confidence after beating top-ranked Federer in the semifinals at the Australian Open en route to his first grand slam title.
Djokovic's compatriot, top women's seed Ana Ivanovic survived two match points before beating France's Nathalie Dechy 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 10-8 in a second round thriller.
The Serbian world No. 1, fresh from her triumph at the French Open, often looked tentative but survived through sheer persistence to land the tightest of victories.
In a nerve-tingling final set, Ivanovic swept into a 4-2 lead. But Dechy clawed her way back to 5-5 and then survived two match points at 6-5 before succumbing 8-10.
Djokovic, meanwhile, came up against one of the toughest second-round opponents he could have drawn.
Former No. 1 Safin has won two grand slam titles and also had a famous semifinal upset against Federer in Australia, beating the Swiss star before winning 2005 title. He beat Djokovic in the first round of that tournament - their only previous meeting.
Djokovic had claimed Federer, bidding for his sixth consecutive Wimbledon crown, was vulnerable after his recent lopsided French Open loss to No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal.
The hype surrounding those comments set up an enticing semifinal at Wimbledon. Now, it will be Safin who tries to go down that path.
Djokovic seemed to be vulnerable himself, making 28 unforced errors on a surface that he's not entirely comfortable on and struggling with his serve in a blustery breeze. After saving three match points, he served a double-fault to give Safin a fourth, then double-faulted for the 10th time in the match to concede.
"I was serving a lot of double-faults, which is unusual," said Djokovic, who was broken twice in each of the first and third sets and only broke Safin's serve once. "I was just not finding my momentum."
Safin said he came in under the radar, having not won back-to-back all year, and Djokovic was under all the pressure. "He's the one who has to win matches. For me, nobody expects anything," said Safin, who admitted he had not dared look beyond the second round and had even booked a flight back to Russia. "Now, I'll have to check - the way I'm playing now, I could go far."
To save him looking: Safin next plays 29th-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy, who beat Frenchman Florent Serra 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-4.
Lleyton Hewitt, the only other Wimbledon champion in the men's draw, advanced to the third round 7-6 (4), 6-0, 6-2 over Albert Montanes of Spain.
Ivanovic set up a third-round meeting with China's Zheng Jie, a 6-2, 7-5 winner over Britain's Elena Baltacha.
In other women's results, 2007 quarterfinalist Nicole Vaidisova dropped nine straight games to fall behind a break in the third set before recovering to beat Australia's Samantha Stosur 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily June 26, 2008)