Sampras and Henman impress at Queen's

Ossian Shine

Pete Sampras and Tim Henman wasted no time kicking off their grasscourt campaigns on Wednesday, both cruising through to the third round of the Stella Artois tournament.

Wimbledon champion Sampras produced a sublime performance on his return to the slick surface, thrashing Belgium's Olivier Rochus 6-1 6-2.

Henman fared almost as well, following Sampras on to Centre Court and crushing Italian qualifier Cristiano Caratti 6-3 6-1.

In the opening showcourt match, Rochus held his serve to level at 1-1 in the first set but after that it was Sampras all the way.

The second seed and holder of a record 13 Grand Slam titles served an average of three aces per game in the opening set and prowled the baseline on return of serve with all his old menace.

Rochus was outclassed as the American wrapped up the opener in only 19 minutes, and Sampras completed victory on his second match point when Rochus dinked a return into the net.

The win gave a clear warning to pretenders to the American's Wimbledon crown that Sampras still rules supreme on the slick surface.

"It was one of those days where everything just clicked," Sampras said. "It doesn't happen very often that your first match back you can play like that.

OVERWHELMED
"I saw the ball so well I wish it was going to be like that every day but I'm afraid it isn't.

"He was just a little bit overwhelmed. I couldn't ask for a better start."

Henman could not really have asked for much better either, comfortably winning his first match of the tournament at Queen's Club.

The fourth seed felt his way a little in the opening set but stepped on the accelerator after that to record a comfortable victory.

"Certainly today it was a good performance in every area," Henman said. "I was trying to not expect too much from my first match on grass but I was pleasantly surprised.

"He was hitting some good shots and I had to be wary of that considering some of my past performances here I am very happy with the way I played."

Doubles specialist Todd Woodbridge ousted Swedish fifth seed Thomas Enqvist 6-2 6-4.

The Australian is hoping to snatch the final wild card available for Wimbledon's main draw having received one last year.

Wimbledon announced seven of the eight wild cards on Tuesday but are holding one back.

"If I do well here it will help me get it," Woodbridge said. "I won't have done myself any harm today."

In other action, seventh-seeded South African Wayne Ferreira beat Slovakia's Karol Kucera 6-2 6-4, and Dutchman Raemon Sluiter ousted Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 2-6 6-4.

Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand beat Brazil's Andre Sa 7-6 6-1, while eighth-seeded Belarussian Vladimir Voltchkov eased past Armenia's Sargis Sargsian 6-1 6-3.