WIMBLEDON, June 24: There were two first round matches which had captured the imagination of the plebians and the pundits alike. One, was the battle of the biggest servers the game -- seventh-seeded Australian Mark Philippoussis and the Canadian-turned Briton Greg Rusedski. The other was the match-up between a former champion, Michael Stich, playing his last Wimbledon, and a former finalist, American Jim Courier.

Both matches spilled over from yesterday, but the fate of one was already sealed when play was called off due to bad light. Philippoussis, rated as one of the dark horses of the tournament, tethered on the brink of defeat having blown away a glorious chance to come back into the match by wasting four set points in the second set tie-breaker. Rusedski, on the other hand, converted just the one break point he had in the entire match -- in the third set -- and came back today to wrap up his biggest victory in his career, 7-6 (6), 7-6(6-4), 6-3.

If this high-voltage match had the centre court crowd in thrall, two forgotten champions fought their own battle on court No 1. Stich, up by a set yesterday, returned to give his Wimbledon hopes a fresh lease of life, winning 7-6(0), 7-5, 7-6(2). Stich was joined by Boris Becker in the second round. Becker had an easy day in office, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 over Spain's Aurelio Marcos Gorriz.

Meanwhile, top seed Pete Sampras had the first round behind him, demolishing Swede Mikael Tillstrom, the Gold Flake Open winner in Chennai, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.Philippoussis was not the only seeded first-round casualty. Gustavo Kuerten, the 11th-seeded French Open winner, lost to Justin Gimelstob (US) 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4 and 17th seed Swede Jonas Bjorkman, a surprise loser to local anti-hero Chris Wilkinson 7-6 (5), 0-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

There was no tears or great sense of loss from Kuerten. On the contrary, he joked and laughed at the press conference and informed the world media that the last time he played on grass was in 1993 as a junior. He stuck to his image of being a happy-go-lucky fellow.

With Philippoussis, however, that was not the case. He had an outside chance given his performance at Queen's but had to contend with left-handed Rusedski on cetnre court. Rusedski seems to be on a mission to convince the British public that he is as good as Tim Henman because he finds acceptance very hard to come by.

Rusedski played so above himself in a match where there the margin for error is very thin. The fact that Rusedski had just one break point and the Australian none speaks volumes about their serves. Philippousis had his chances, particulary in the second set, when he was up 6-2 in the tie-breaker and serving.

On his second serve, Philippoussis let go a Rusedski return thinking it to be long. But that mistake proved too expensive. With that mini break, Rusedski turned the match on its head, reeling off the next six points and then broke the Australian early in the third set to cause the biggest upset so far in the tournament.

``Because I had a good tournament two weeks ago, I thought I could do well here. Greg isn't exactly an easy first round,'' Philippoussis said.The Australian felt he had a chance to get back this morning and wanted to give it everything he had got. He agreed that it was Rusedski's serving which held the big difference. ``If he can serve like that in his other matches, he can go far,'' he said.

Rusedski felt that sense of achievement than he had done the previous years: ``I'm just trying to stay focussed. If you get euphoric you won't play well. I think I outsmarted him on serve. Definitely, his serves are more powerful,'' he said.

From the women's action, top seed Martina Hingis sailed through to the second round with a comfortable 6-4, 6-4 win over Anna Kremer of Luxembourg. Other seeds to go through were sixth seed Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) a 7-6(10), 6-1 winner over Alexandra Fusai of France, 10th seed Conchita Martinez (Spain) who beat Katrina Habsudova (Slovakia) 6-1, 6-2, and seventh seede German Anke Huber who got past Japanese qualifier Haruka Inoue 6-3, 6-3.

HOW THE SEEDS FARED

Men's singles (1st round): 1-Pete Sampras (US) bt Mikael Tillstrom (Sweden) 6-4 6-4 6-2, 2-Goran Ivanisevic (Croatia) bt Dinu Pescariu (Romania) 6-1 6-3 6-3, 3-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia) bt Juan-Antonio Marin (Spain) 6-4 6-2 6-0, 4-Richard Krajicek (Netherlands) bt Marcello Craca (Germany) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-4, 8-Boris Becker (Germany) bt Marcos Aurelio Gorriz (Spain) 6-3 6-2 6-3; 10-Carlos Moya (Spain) bt Steve Bryan (US) 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 4-6 6-2, 12-Patrick Rafter (Australia) bt Grant Stafford (South Africa) 2-6 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-2, 13-Andrei Medvedev (Ukraine) bt Fabrice Santoro (France) 6-2 6-3 6-4, 14-Tim Henman (Britain) bt Daniel Nestor (Canada) 7-6 (13-11) 6-1 6-4, Chris Wilkinson (Britain) bt 17-Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 7-6 (7-5) 0-6 5-7 6-3 6-4.

Women's singles (1st round): 4-Iva Majoli (Croatia) bt Mariana Diaz Oliva (Argentina) 2-6 6-0 6-3, 5-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Tami Jones (US) 5-7 6-2 6-2, 6-Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) bt Alexandra Fusai (France) 7-6 (12-10) 6-1, 7-Anke Huber (Germany) bt Haruka Inoue (Japan) 6-3 6-3, 10-Conchita Martinez (Spain) bt Karina Habsudova (Slovakia) 6-1 6-2, 12-Irina Spirlea (Romania) bt Henrieta Nagyova (Slovakia) 6-1 6-0, 14-Brenda Schultz-McCarthy (Netherlands) bt Silvia Farina (Italy) 4-6 6-3 6-2.1 Andrea Glass (Germany) bt 15-Ruxandra Dragomir (Romania) 5-7 6-2 10-8.

THE OTHER RESULTS

Men's singles (1st round): Mark Woodforde (Aus) bt Leander Paes (Ind) 6-3 7-5 6-4, Andrew Richardson (Gbr) bt Sergi Duran (Spa) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 6-3, Brett Steven (NZ) bt Lionel Roux (Fra) 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-0), Andrei Pavel (Rom) bt Filip Dewulf (Bel) 6-1 4-6 2-6 6-2 6-3, Juan Albert Viloca (Spa) bt Marc Goellner (Ger) 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5), Javier Frana (Arg) bt Martin Damm (Cze) 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-3 6-2, Guillaume Raoux (Fra) bt Arnaud Boetsch (Fra) 6-3 6-4 6-1, Sandon Stolle (Aus) bt Chris Woodruff (US) 6-2 6-2 6-4, Paul Haarhuis (Net) bt Sebastien Lareau (Can) 6-1 6-2 7-6 (7-5), Arnaud Clement (Fra) bt Luke Milligan (Gbr) 2-6 7-6 (7-1) 7-5 6-2, Jonathan Stark (US) bt Stephane Huet (France) 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 2-6 6-3, Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) bt Alexander Volkov (Russia) 6-4 6-4 6-2, Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 7-5 6-3 6-1, Nicklas Kulti (Sweden) bt Martin Sinner (Germany) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 6-3, John van Lottum (Netherlands) bt Orlin Stanoytchev (Bulgaria) 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-1 6-3.

Women's singles (1st round): Gala Leon Garcia (Spa) bt Mana Endo (Jpn) 6-3 6-3, Cristina Torrens-Valero (Spa) bt Gloria Pizzichini (Ita) 1-6 6-3 6-4, Denisa Chladkova (Cze) bt Sandra Kleinova (Cze) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4, Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) bt Julie Pullin (Gbr) 6-1 6-3, Nicole Arendt (US) bt Petra Langrova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-0, Lisa Raymond (US) bt Eva Martincova (Cze) 6-4 6-2, Olga Barabanschikova (Bel) bt Petra Begerow (Ger) 6-3 6-3, Joannette Kruger (SA) bt Stephanie de Ville (Bel) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3, Marion Maruska (Asi) bt Adriana Gersi (Cze) 7-6 (7-4) 6-2; Yayuk Basuki (Ina) bt Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) 6-3 6-0; Amy Frazier (US) bt Sandra Cacic (US) 7-5 6-4; Anna Kournikova (Rus) bt Chanda Rubin (US) 6-1 6-1; Barbara Rittner (Ger) bt Anna-Gaelle Sidot (Fra) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4, Helena Sukova (Czech Republic) bt Shirli-Ann Siddall (Britain) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, Nathalie Dechy (France) bt Laurence Courtois (Belgium) 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-2, Maria-Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo (Spain) bt Flora Perfetti (Italy) 6-4 6-4, Sabine Appelmans (Belgium) bt Rene Simpson (Canada) 6-2 3-6 6-0, Laura Golarsa (Italy) bt Alexia Dechaume-Balleret (France) 6-1 4-6 6-3, Karen Cross (Britain) bt Linda Wild (US) 6-4 6-2, Gigi Fernandez (US) bt Miriam Oremans (Netherlands) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.