Ancic raises expectations

TENNIS/Wimbledon Championship: PERHAPS we're grasping at straws. But Goran Ivanisevic's replacement may well have arrived. From Split, Goran's home town, 18-year-old Mario Ancic, a qualifier making his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon, disposed of seventh seed Roger Federer yesterday, the first big name to go out of the competition.

Ancic, who played with last year's injured champion on the Croatian Olympic team, defeated the 2001 quarter-finalist 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, in just one hour and 40 minutes, a tame concession by the talented Swiss player.

The second youngest competitor in the main draw behind British wild-card Alex Bogdanovic, Ancic was competing in only his second tour level match of 2002. A junior Wimbledon finalist at the age of 16, he lost in the 2000 junior Australian Open to this year's 11th seed Andy Roddick and ended last year ranked as the fourth best junior in the world.

But little was expected from Ancic against the player who knocked out Pete Sampras in last year's round of 16 before losing to Tim Henman. Questions of confidence may now face 20-year-old Federer, who has won two tour titles but has conspicuously failed to fire in the recent Grand Slam events, also losing in the first round of the French Open.

The pumping fists and primal scream from Ancic on winning the match appeared to be obvious borrowings and drew immediate comparisons to the more famous Croat player.

"I'm Mario. I'm Goran's friend. That's it," said Ancic, whose voice is virtually indistinguishable from that of Ivanisevic. "I'm still one personality. Sure I break racquets but I don't talk to them. He's unique. We are from the same town. I sometimes felt he was my bigger brother in tournaments and I know I can always relate to him."

Ancic had spoken to Ivanisevic before the match, while the champion's father watched in Centre Court. "He told me he (Federer) had a great forehand, just stay away from it. He can serve good but just attack him on the second," said Ancic.

But Federer looked to his own game as the problem. "I expected much more than coming here and losing in straight sets," he said. "At the moment I don't have any words. I couldn't really figure out his game. Today was a shocker."

Also through to round two is Henman, who won in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2, against Frenchman Jean-Francois Bachelot, and the number one seed Lleyton Hewitt. Hewitt defeated Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman in three sets 6-4, 7-5, 6-1.

Meanwhile, Tennis Ireland yesterday announced their Davis Cup team to face Slovenia in Portoz on July 12th-14th. In the absence of captain Owen Casey, Peter Wright will take the team which includes John Doran, Seán Cooper, Dave Mullins and Stephen Nugent.

The match will be played on clay with Ireland hoping for a repeat of their win three years ago when they beat Slovenia at Riverview, Dublin. All four players are currently playing on the professional circuit.