LONDON -- Swedish No. 3 seed Magnus
Norman, burned out and ill at ease on grass, was sent tumbling
out of Wimbledon on Wednesday 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 by Belgian
qualifier Olivier Rochus.
It was the biggest shock so far of Wimbledon 2000 -- the
19-year-old is ranked only 179 and had never played in a Grand
Slam tournament before.
Rochus refused to be cowed by the Swede, No. 2 in the ATP Champions race, a finalist in the Paris Open and semifinalist in the Australian Open.
"All credit to him. He played the best match of his career
and my game was not working," Norman said. "I haven't really recovered yet both mentally and physically from what I did in Paris and before."
 | |
| Magnus Norman takes two hard spills in his loss to Belgium's Olivier Rochus.(AP) | |
Norman has played 55 matches this year, more than anyone
else on the men's tour. In the penultimate game of the
194-minute marathon, an exhausted Norman was foot-faulted and in
despair he invited a ball girl to play the rally for him.
Norman joked: "I was playing so poorly she could probably do
better than me and she actually did."
The match was a baseline battle with Rochus proving
steadier and more accurate, and Norman being constantly
foot-faulted and falling heavily twice.
"When I fell over, that hurt me on the right leg. I was
cramping a bit," he said.
Norman's shock departure against a total unknown leaves the
top half of the draw wide open for Pete Sampras to progress to
the final in his search for a seventh title in eight years.
Of the seven other seeds in Sampras' half, six have now
been knocked out -- leaving only ninth seed Thomas Enqvist between
the American and the final.
Rochus, who had to beat his compatriot Reginald Willems to
qualify for Wimbledon, refused to be overawed in the first set.
He outgunned the Swede, breaking him in the fifth game and
having three break points for a 5-2 lead. Norman clawed his way
back, but Rochus would not be denied, deservedly landing the set
with an ace.
Normal service resumed for Norman in the second set when
the Swede, who has played more singles matches than any other
player on the circuit this year, re-established his dominance.
He broke in both the fourth and final games of the set.
But the Belgian bounced back. He broke Norman in the first
game of the third set and held on in a string of marathon
rallies to take a 2-1 advantage.
In the fourth set, Norman got the crucial first break in the
eighth game to go 5-3 up. Rochus broke back, prompting an
uncharacteristic burst of emotion from the Swede who tossed his
racket down in disgust.
But Norman took the tiebreak 7-5.
The last set was a slaughter. Rochus, pumped up by the crowd
chanting, "Come on Ollie," raced into a 5-0 lead before Norman
could hold his serve.
Norman saved two match points but Rochus, showing no sign of
nerves, was quick to polish him off.
As Norman ruefully concluded after his diminutive opponent's
triumph: "He looked small before the match, but he was growing
all the time."
COPYRIGHT 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights
reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior
written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or
delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.