Goran Ivanisevic's Grand Slam misery continued yesterday as he fell in the first round of the US Open to unseeded Romanian Dinu Pescariu.
Ivanisevic, ranked fourth in the world and seeded fourth, served 24 aces, but he became increasingly inconsistent as the match wore on, while Pescariu, ranked 91st in the world and playing in the US Open main draw for the first time, took full advantage.
"In the beginning I was not touching his serves," Pescariu said. "Then he started serving worse, and we started rallying on his serve and that was it."
Ivanisevic said he was sorry, but not surprised after Pescariu's 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (7/3) victory. The 25-year-old Croatian said his problems on the court are a continuation of the doldrums that have plagued him throughout the season.
"It's very frustrating when you lose first round," he said. "I lost first round French Open, second round Wimbledon, first round here. It's terrible. Then I lose to a guy, he is a good player but no way I can lose to him if I play normal tennis."
Ivanisevic won the first set with a service break in the seventh game, and the second set went with serve until Pescariu broke for 7-5. Pescariu rolled to a 4-0 lead in the third before Ivanisevic broke him to claim his only game of the set.
The Romanian then broke for 4-3 in the fourth, and Ivanisevic said that even when he broke back to level the set at 5-5, he didn't feel like he had a chance.
"I'm not trying to push enough," he said. "He served for the match and I broke him, and then I stopped again. It's not only my serve. Everything is not there. You can't win matches when you play like that."
He slammed a forehand into the net on match point to give Pescariu his first victory over a top-10 player.
Britain's Greg Rusedski found the inspiration to take his first-ever triumph at the US Open to celebrate his rise to a career-high 20th ranking on the ATP Tour.
The left-hander swatted four passing forehand winners for a break in the opening game and went on to beat American David Wheaton 6-2, 6-3, 6-3. "It's a nice way to celebrate being British number one. I got my first win here and it only took four years," Rusedski said. "I will be British number one on my birthday for the first time. That will be nice."
Meanwhile, Monica Seles had no trouble in her first round match, easily dismissing Kristie Boogert of the Netherlands 6-1, 62. Eighth-seeded German Anke Huber also advanced smoothly, 62, 6-2 over unseeded Italian Gloria Pizzichini, while American Lisa Raymond, ranked 24th in the world, derailed 15th seeded Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir 62, 3-6, 6-3.
Two more seeded men reached the second round. Spanish 12th seed Felix Mantilla defeated Australian Jason Stoltenberg 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-2 and 14th-seeded Aussie Mark Philippoussis downed Moroccan Karim Alami 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
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