Umbrellas rule at soggy French Open

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Posted 7:25AM on Wednesday, May 29, 2002

PARIS - Justine Henin was ill. Roger Federer was weary. Most everyone else at the French Open was sick and tired, too - fed up with rain that backlogged play and made umbrellas as visible as tennis rackets. ``I've never experienced anything like it, raining consistently for 2 1/2 sets,'' Federer said after Tuesday's 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 first-round loss to Hicham Arazi. ``If it rains really, we can stop. But it was just raining enough where we could keep playing.'' After his match was interrupted, the eighth-seeded Federer went with a new look, changing from a head-to-toe black ensemble to Wimbledonlike all white. It didn't help. ``I've played in rain before. He was just much better. It's a pity,'' added Federer, who said he was worn out from winning a tournament in Germany just more than a week ago. The fifth-seeded Henin, a semifinalist at the French Open last year, was truly under the weather. A sore throat, fever and congestion made for a miserable day and an early exit for one of the favorites coming into Roland Garros. She lost 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 to Hungarian qualifier Aniko Kapros. ``I just feel physically awful,'' said Henin, who admitted she probably should not have ventured out on a raw and cold day. ``I was not ready to play this match.'' At least Henin and Federer got on the court. The wait continued for many players Tuesday when four more rain delays ran the total to seven over two days. Only 84 of 128 scheduled matches had been completed when play was called after the second day. Top-seeded and defending champion Jennifer Capriati was out long enough to build a 4-2 lead over Marissa Irvin before more rain and then darkness descended. Serena Williams, Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick were hoping to play first-round matches Wednesday as the sun finally made an appearance and the weather cleared. Williams was to meet Martina Sucha, Agassi was to play Eric Prodon and Roddick to face Wayne Arthurs. On Tuesday, No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov finally finished off his match started a day earlier, beating qualifier Tomas Behrend 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-1. While waiting out the raindrops, Kafelnikov tried to relax. ``I came back for an hour, had a little nap, rethought what I had to do. It worked out,'' he said. For Kapros, making her French Open debut, things worked out, as well, against an ailing opponent. ``I played one of the best matches I ever played,'' she said, smiling ear to ear. Kapros comes from a solid sports background and has traveled the world with her acrobat parents. Her mother, Aniko Kery, was a member of Hungary's bronze medal gymnastic team at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Her father, Attila, is her coach. She learned tennis while living in the Bahamas, one of several locations where her parents performed. Now the 18-year-old and 179th-ranked player has made the second round of a Grand Slam event. Kapros arrived there even though she has a soft second serve that just floats over the net. ``You have to get used to it - that if you get a soft serve, you have to hit it,'' Kapros said. ``She didn't really do that.'' A rain delay didn't bother Monica Seles - it actually got her going. She lost the first five games. But after play was halted in the second set with the score tied, she ran off nine straight games to beat Angeles Montolio 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-0. No. 4 Kim Clijsters, last year's runner-up, came back to beat Tatiana Poutchek 3-6, 6-3, 8-6. ``Tough with the rain and wind. But it's tough for both of us,'' Clijsters said. ``It was raining on her side of the court, as well.'' Besides Federer, other seeded players to lose were No. 21 Juan Ignacio Chela, No. 27 Nicolas Escude, No. 28 Nicolas Lapentti and No. 32 Ivan Ljubicic. Among the women eliminated were No. 19 Anastasia Myskina, No. 22 Magdalena Maleeva, No. 24 Lisa Raymond, No. 25 Daja Bedanova, and No. 30 Amanda Coetzer. Advancing were No. 6 Tim Henman, who beat Galo Blanco 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6); No. 11 Juan Carlos Ferrero, a semifinalist the last two years, who downed Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-1, 7-6 (3),6-3; and No. 17 Carlos Moya, the 1998 champion, who downed Ramon Delgado 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.