PARIS, 28 October 2003 — Britain’s Tim Henman gave himself a chance of avenging one of his most crushing and demoralizing defeats after moving into the second round of the Paris Masters here yesterday.
His 6-3, 6-4 first round win over Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko means he will now face French seventh seed Sebastien Grosjean, the man who ended his Wimbledon dream at the quarterfinal stage this year.
Now he has the opportunity of returning the favor in the Frenchman’s backyard and on the same court where Grosjean won this tournament in 2001.
Henman, playing in his last event of the season after an injury-ravaged campaign, had too much class for Davydenko, a man he had easily beaten in Washington this year in their only previous meeting.
He broke in the eighth game of the first set and again in the opening game of the second to put himself in command and although the Russian rallied with a break of his own to go 2-2, Henman took advantage of a double fault by the Russian to nose ahead to 5-4.
The Briton then served out the match after 74 minutes on court.
Meanwhile Paradorn Srichaphan’s slim chances of making it to the money-spinning Masters Cup in Houston improved when Robby Ginepri, the Thai eighth seed’s potentially tricky opening opponent, crashed out at the first hurdle. The American was beaten 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 by Slovak qualifier Karol Beck leaving Paradorn a slightly smoother path to the later stages of the tournament.
The Thai star, a semifinalist here in 2002, is vying for the last remaining place at the eight-man Masters Cup in Texas next month although David Nalbandian of Argentina and Australia’s Mark Philippoussis are better placed in the shake-up. For the moment, however, Paradorn is just grateful that Ginepri has been removed from the draw as he had lost both their previous encounters.
“Last year when I reached the semifinals here, no-one really knew me,” said Paradorn, recognizing that he has rapidly become one of the most dangerous players on the tour and is a marked man as a result. “This time will be completely different as the other players will want to beat me.”
Philippoussis’ dreams of making it to the Masters Cup were given a huge boost by a wrist injury to Nalbandian who had to scratch from the final of the Swiss Indoors championship in Basel on Sunday, handing victory to countryman Guillermo Coria.
The tendinitis is so severe that Nalbandian may be forced to pull out of the tournament here, the penultimate event of the 2003 season. The Argentine currently has 392 points in the race for the Masters Cup — a 70-point-gap on Philippoussis going into Paris.
Nalbandian wasn’t the only player suffering here yesterday. Frenchman Arnaud Clement was forced to pull out with a thigh injury with his place in the first round going to lucky loser Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia.
In other first-round results at an event where the seeds all enjoy first-round byes, France’s Gregory Carraz beat Czech Radek Stepanek 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and qualifier Karol Beck put out American Robby Ginepri 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. 2002 French Open winner Albert Costa fought back to reach the second round, ousting Argentine Mariano Zabaleta 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 7-5. Morocco’s stylish little man Hicham Arazi beat France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu, France 7-5, 6-4 while home player Nicolas Mahut got one back for France over Finn Jarkko Nieminen 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
