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Tommy Haas recovers from the brink

Nicolas Kiefer was the only seeded casualty in the men's draw on Thursday. The No 15 seed lost to fellow German and three-time Wimbledon champion, Boris Becker.

Kiefer played well below par, while Becker, back on his beloved Centre Court, served as if he was 17 again, smashing 17 aces in his 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory.

Another young German, Tommy Haas, nearly fared the same way as Kiefer, before staging a remarkable comeback to defeat veteran Australian Richard Fromberg, winning 6-7 (4-7), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Haas, the No 14 seed, has a similar counter-punching style to Andre Agassi and also seems to be benefiting from the harder courts this year.

Commenting on the Kiefer/Becker result, Haas said, "I'm a little bit surprised because Kiefer has been playing really good tennis on grass, but obviously Centre Court is like Becker's living room. Anybody who is going to play Boris there is going to have a very difficult time."

On a darkening No 1 Court, Australia's Pat Rafter defeated his doubles partner Jonas Bjorkman in four scintillating sets of high class tennis. Rafter, the No 2 seed, served well and played excellent back court tennis to go two sets up, but his Swedish opponent's classy volleying took the match into a fourth set.

Rafter later commented, "I could see how we were trying to go against our natural instincts because we both know each other's games so well."

However Rafter, the two-time US Open champion, proved to have an all court game which was too strong for Bjorkman, the final score being 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (7-9), 6-2. Rafter will now meet another Swede, Thomas Enqvist, in the third round.

Three-time finalist Goran Ivanisevic was also involved in a tough battle, eventually overcoming qualifier Sandon Stolle in four tough sets, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

The No 8 seed from Croatia relied heavily on his serve, hitting 32 aces in the match. He looks difficult to beat, and a meeting with Todd Martin, another huge server, beckons in the last 16. Martin had a straight sets victory today, beating Jiri Novak 7-6(7-5), 6-4, 6-4. However, both Ivanisevic and Martin will have to see through their third round matches against Paul Haarhuis and Jens Knippschild respectively.

Lorenzo Manta, a qualifier from Switzerland, defeated the young American Jan-Michael Gambill in a five-set thriller out on Court 18.

Manta, ranked 196 in the world, will meet Richard Krajicek in the next round.

Also going through was No 11 seed Gustavo Kuerten, who defeated David Prinosil 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.

Agencies