Grosjean Survives Arthurs' Barrage
Thursday, June 26, 2003

Sebastien Grosjean, France's number one player and Wimbledon's 13th seed,
held on in the face of a barrage of aces to defeat the Australian Wayne
Arthurs 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (14-12), 6-3 in two hours  and 22 minutes and move
into the third round of the Gentlemen's Singles.

On a noisy and crowded Court 5, with raucous Australians willing their man
to pull off an upset, the left-handed Arthurs hammered down 13 aces but
ultimately he had no answer to the Frenchman's greater all-round skills
and courtcraft. It looked as if these virtues would be enough to carry
him through routinely against an opponent who had gone out in the first
round of 11 tournaments this year.

But the 32-year-old Arthurs, who was playing a  "home" tournament since
he lives in the London area, is a veteran of 19 Grand Slam tournaments
and knows how to make his powerful serve a weapon, especially on grass.

After dropping the first two sets, he raised the hopes of his followers
in the crowd by hanging on grimly in the third, which went with service
to a tiebreak. This produced some of the most thrilling tennis of the week.

Grosjean, who reached the final of the grass court tournament at Queen's
Club in London 11 days ago, got off to a great start as Arthurs let a
Grosjean service return fall inside the line. Then a double-fault by
Arthurs saw the Frenchman go 5-2 in front and reach his first match
point with a lob.

Arthurs saved that with a service winner, which seemed to inspire him
as he took control, with Grosjean having to save three set points. An
ace boosted Grosjean and an Arthurs backhand error gave Grosjean his
second match point, which he threw away by striking a backhand service
return too long.

Eventually, to the delight of the Aussie fans, Arthurs reached his sixth
set point with an ace and leapt in delight as he won the tiebreak by 14
points to 12 when Grosjean drove a forehand into the tramlines.

If he was downhearted, Grosjean did not show it. In fact, he dug even
deeper, secured an early break of serve in the fourth set and held
steady to serve out for the match when Arthurs mishit a forehand
high out of court.

Written by Ronald Atkin


Court 5 - Gentlemen's Singles - 2nd Round

  Sebastien Grosjean FRA (13)    6 6 612 6

  Wayne Arthurs AUS              3 4 714 3