The voice sounded so familiar, with its accent and cadence. The owner of the voice also possessed a powerful first serve, averaging 125 m.p.h. in his first-round match.
And so, if defending Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic couldn’t be here to play on Centre Court, then perhaps his spirit was lurking around the All England Club. Cosmic forces, it seemed, had conspired to bring the next-best thing, Ivanisevic’s Croatian protege, 18-year-old Mario Ancic.
Tuesday morning, Ancic was a little-known qualifier from Split, ranked 154th in the world. By nightfall, the youthful-looking teen was being called “Super Mario.”
Between morning and evening, Ancic sprang the biggest upset at Wimbledon thus far, dispatching seventh-seeded Roger Federer of Switzerland with poise and power, winning, 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
“I’m terribly down right now,” said Federer, who made his name by beating Pete Sampras here last year in the fourth round. “I expected much more than coming in here and losing in straight sets. For the moment, I haven’t got any words.”
Ancic didn’t need words to describe his joy when Federer hit a forehand passing shot wide on Ancic’s first match point. He pumped his fists, leaned back and unleashed a scream, then threw a tennis ball into the second level of seats on Centre Court.
“I feel great,” Ancic said. “I just played one of the best matches in my life, so how can I feel? I cannot feel better, I think.”
There was one other significant upset. Brazilian Flavio Saretta took out the Australian Open champion, No. 8 Thomas Johansson of Sweden, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 12-10, in 4 hours 21 minutes. It was Saretta’s first tour-level grass-court victory.
Other seeded losers were No. 13 Younes El Aynaoui, No. 20 Tommy Robredo, No. 15 Anna Smashnova, and No. 28 Paola Suarez.
There were also impressive first-round showings by leading players, including No. 1-seeded Venus Williams and Lleyton Hewitt, along with Monica Seles and Tim Henman.
Williams, trying to be the first woman to win three straight Wimbledons since Steffi Graf in 1991-93, beat British wild-card entry Jane O’Donoghue 6-1, 6-1.
U.S. Open champion Hewitt constructed a 6-4, 7-5, 6-1 beating of Jonas Bjorkman.
Henman had an easy 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 win over Jean-Francois Bachelot.
Seles had the shortest work day of anyone, 37 minutes, dropping only 15 points while smothering Eva Bes of Spain 6-0, 6-0.
At a glance
How top seeds fared
Tuesday’s winners: Men–Lleyton Hewitt (1), Tim Henman (4), Juan Carlos Ferrero (9), Guillermo Canas (10). Women–Venus Williams (1), Monica Seles (4), Kim Clijsters (5), Justine Henin (6), Silvia Farina Elia (10), Elena Dementieva (12), Lisa Raymond (16)
Tuesday’s losers: Men–Roger Federer (7), Thomas Johansson (8), Younes El Aynaoui (13), Tommy Robredo (20); Women–Anna Smashnova (15), Paola Suarez (28)
Match of the day
Brazil’s Flavio Saretta upset Sweden’s Thomas Johansson, the reigning Australian Open champ and the eighth seed, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 12-10. Saretta, ranked 71st in the world, outdueled Johansson in 4 hours 22 minutes in only the second grass-court match of his career.
Wednesday’s featured matches
– Olivier Rochus, Belgium, vs. Marat Safin (2), Russia
– Paradorn Srichaphan, Thailand, vs. Andre Agassi (3), United States
– Pete Sampras (8), United States, vs. George Bastl, Switzerland
– Alberto Martin, Spain, vs. Andy Roddick (11), United States
– Francesca Schiavone, Italy, vs. Serena Williams (2), United States
– Marta Marrero, Spain, vs. Jennifer Capriati (3), United States
– Jelena Dokic (7), Yugoslavia, vs. Kveta Hrdlickova, Czech Republic
Stat of the day
44
Minutes it took top-seeded Venus Williams to win her first-round match over Britain’s Jane O’Donoghue, 19. The world’s No.1 player won 6-1, 6-1–including 20 of 21 service points in the first set–against the 344th-ranked O’Donoghue.
