WIMBLEDON, June 25: After two days of off-now, on-now scenario, rain finally took over at the All England Club. It allowed only a brief dry spell during which the former world No. 1 Monica Seles routed Australian Rachel McQuillan 6-0, 6-2 to enter the second round.

Seles came out with guns blazing and never allowed the Australian to settle down. Seles was two points away from wrapping it all up but was forced indoors. When play resumed, Seles completed the formalities in less a minute to enter the second round. Seles, however, felt that she was not in the right shape physically and that she was ideally was not the right weight. ``It was tough for me because I was expecting to play on Monday and I was in the locker room all day and I thought I could play atleast yesterday. I am one of the few lucky ones who have finished but waiting for two full days is not easy.''

It was not the same smiling Seles who was on court as she agreed later that there were things other than tennis which were weighing on her mind. She was of course talking about her father, Karolj's illness because he has been the most important factor in her career. With Karolj stricken with cancer, Seles is going through, as she described as a ``difficult time of her life. It comes in phases and you have to go through it,'' she said.

On court No. 1, Czech Jana Novotna was faced with an unusually tough customer in the unseeded German Wiltrud Probst, whose backhand winners had the former finalist in a spot. The vastly experienced Novotna, however, secured the break and was all set out to serve out the first set when the rains intervened. She returned after the skies cleared to serve out the first set. But things took a different turn in the second when the 26-year-old Probst came out swinging, especially on her backhand. That completely send Novotna off rhythm as she was broken in the 10th game to lose the second set. Fortunately it was the day where none of the big guns, with the possible exception of second seed Goran Ivanisevic and champion Richard Krajicek, were to be seen in action.

But with the whole schedule in disarray, the tournament officials would find it difficult to squeeze through the entire schedule and may be forced to schedule matches on the first Sunday, which is traditionally an off day for the tournament.

Later, it was decided that play will begin tomorrow at 11 on the outside courts instead of the normal 12 noon and on centre court play will resume at 12 noon instead of two in the afternoon.

Late last night American Michael Chang became the highest seed so far to crash out of the tournament in the first round. He had a similar experience last year, too, but this year he had rallied brilliantly from being 0-4 down in the final fifth set against the Australian doubles exponent Todd Woodbridge. He levelled scores at 5-5, exploiting the Australian's nerves but played a pathetic service game in the 13th to lose serve. Chang, playing with a heavily strapped right knee, never really got into the match but was merely hanging on waiting for a miracle, which failed to arrive.

``I had an accident in the quarter-final in Rosmalen,'' Chang said. ``When running for a forehand against (Francisco) Clavet, my right foot slipped and came under me and I hyperextended my right knee. So, I've been taping it and it was okay though.'' He said that even though he was down two breaks in the fifth set he knew he was able to get his way back. ``I think that I had a couple of opportunities where I broke Todd a couple of times in the second set, and it makes no sense why I'm not able to do it again. So from there, even though you are down, you try to always maintain a positive perspective. It has been instilled in me not to give up, which I have too many times in my career.''

He paid due respects to his opponent, Woodbridge, whom he felt played a great match. Even though he is noted for his doubles, his singles is in certain ways underestimated, Chang said.

``People think Woodbridge is No 1 in doubles but they don't realise that he is ranked 30-odd in singles. I played some tough tennis and he came up with the shots he needed in the end and definitely all credit is due.''

HOW THE SEEDS FARED

Men's singles (1st round): Todd Woodbridge (Australia) bt 5-Michael Chang (US) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-2 3-6 8-6, 16-Petr Korda (Czech Republic) bt Marcelo Filippini (Uruguay) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 6-4.

Women's singles (1st round): 2-Monica Seles (US) bt Rachel McQuillan (Australia) 6-0 6-2, 8-Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spain) bt Clare Wood (Britain) 6-0 6-0.

THE OTHER RESULTS

Men's singles (1st round): Marcos Ondruska (South Africa) bt Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) 3-6 7-5 6-0 0-1 (retired), Alex O'Brien (US) bt Henrik Holm (Sweden) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 7-6 (7-4), Tommy Haas (Germany) bt Christian Ruud (Norway) 6-2 6-1 6-2, Byron Black (Zimbabwe) bt Pat Cash (Australia) 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-4.

Women's singles (1st round): Yuka Yoshida (Japan) bt Rika Hiraki (Japan) 6-2 6-3, Shi-Ting Wang (Taiwan) bt Lori McNeil (US) 6-1 2-6 7-5.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.