Tennis: Goran and Coria exit, Serena shines

9.30am

LONDON - A dewy-eyed Goran Ivanisevic waved goodbye to tennis while Serena Williams and Tim Henman soothed wounded pride at Wimbledon on Friday.

Men's third seed Guillermo Coria, sixth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero and women's second seed Anastasia Myskina also exited on a day when the umpire who made a scoring mistake in Venus Williams' shock defeat on Thursday was shown the door.

Ivanisevic bade farewell to his beloved Centre Court and headed for retirement after a 6-2 6-3 6-4 third round defeat by Australian seventh seed Lleyton Hewitt.

The 32-year-old Croatian, whose emotional triumph over another Australian Pat Rafter in the 2001 final earned him a permanent place in tennis folklore, was outplayed but loved every minute in his final tournament before quitting the game.

"I just enjoyed myself. I'm happy. I'm happy and sad," he said. "I'm sad that I have to leave, but I'm happy that it's no more practising."

Women's defending champion Serena ensured she did not follow older sister Venus out of the tournament by beating French qualifier Stephanie Foretz 6-0 6-4 in the second round.

Third seed Venus was upset 7-6 7-6 by Croatian Karolina Sprem and on Friday organisers said they had agreed with umpire Ted Watt, who made a scoring error in the second set tiebreak of that game, that he would take no further part in the tournament.

Serena gave a ruthless display and said: "There are still some things I want to try to work on. So I'm getting better."

The English were nursing sore heads after the national soccer team's painful Euro 2004 exit against Portugal on Thursday.

Henman, after a sluggish start, provided the lift the home nation needed on Centre Court, although he admitted the soccer had been a distraction for him too.

Swiss qualifier Ivo Heuberger led 5-3 in the first set before Henman clicked into gear and raced away to a 7-5 6-3 6-2 victory under sporadic sunshine.

"I didn't sleep particularly well. I was very much aware of our disappointment," said the 29-year-old who is bidding to end Britain's 68-year wait for a men's champion.

Henman is still on course for a fourth round showdown with last year's runner-up, Australian Mark Philippoussis, who beat Dutchman Martin Verkerk 4-6 6-3 7-6 7-5.

Men's second seed Andy Roddick set up a high-octane clash with compatriot Taylor Dent in the third round when he flayed Austria's Alexander Peya 6-3 7-6 6-4.

The US Open champion fired 13 aces but may get a dose of his own medicine against heavy-serving Dent.

"I did enough to win," Roddick said. "But I still don't feel like I'm playing my best tennis yet."

Coria was sent packing by German debutant Florian Mayer. The French Open runner-up, a clay specialist who had never won a match on grass before this year, lost 4-6 6-3 6-3 6-4 in a second round surprise on court 18.

The defeats of Ferrero and women's French Open champion Myskina were more predictable.

Ferrero had barely recovered from a five-set marathon on Thursday and lost in only 80 minutes 6-3 6-4 6-1 to American Robby Ginepri.

Myskina had complained of exhaustion after her three-set second round victory late on Thursday and having had little time to rest the Russian succumbed 4-6 6-4 6-4 to American Amy Frazier.

Her defeat meant the top three Russian seeds -- Myskina, number six Elena Dementieva and number eight Svetlana Kuznetsova are all out.

The other leading women's seeds were untroubled on a day free from rain interruptions. Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, Americans Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport, Argentine Paola Suarez and Russians Nadia Petrova and Vera Zvonareva all won.

None was as impressive as Russian teenager Maria Sharapova's 6-3 6-1 hammering of Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in her debut on Centre Court. The eye-catching 17-year-old Siberian has now reached the fourth round for the second year in a row.

- REUTERS