Sandrine Testud became the highest ranking seed to exit this year's women's singles at Wimbledon today when the 30-year-old eighth-ranked Frenchwoman was beaten by compatriot Mary Pierce on court 15, 6-3 6-4.
After keeping Testud waiting for her arrival on to court 13, Pierce's scowl soon changed to a smile as the former French and Australian Open champion underlined her recent revival by displaying her best form of the championships for three years. There was no sign of the back and ankle injuries that have plagued her for a year as the world number 74 broke in Testud's first service game and proceeded to tease her 30-year-old opponent almost at will. Pierce, a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros this year, mixed delightful drop shots with some devastating hitting from the back of the court to set up a third round meeting with America's Laura Granville.
Granville's compatriot Chanda Rubin had earlier swept past 14th seed Iroda Tulyaganova 6-3 6-1 to become the first player to reach the third round.
Uzbekistan's Tulyaganova failed to make any impact on Rubin's serve and was clearly out of her depth on court two. Rubin clearly felt at home on grass after winning the warm-up title at Eastbourne title last weekend. Tulyaganova rarely ventured beyond the baseline and was time and again punished by the attacking Rubin who controlled play from the net.
Rubin will now face the winner of the all-Russian clash between Elena Bovina and 21st seed Tatiana Panova.
Latest scores:Nathalie Dechy (Fra x25) bt Tatiana Poutchek (Blr) 6-3 6-2Maja Matevzic (Slo) bt Anne Kremer (Lux x22) 2-6, 6-1, 6-2Anastasia Myskina (Rus x18) bt Greta Arn (Ger) 6-4, 6-3Daja Bedanova (Cze x26) bt Selima Sfar (Tun) 6-3, 6-2Chanda Rubin (USA) bt Iroda Tulyaganova (Uzb x14) 6-3, 6-1Laura Granville (USA) bt Marlene Weingartner (Ger) 6-3, 6-4Amelie Mauresmo (Fra x9) bt Rita Grande (Ita) 6-4, 6-2Eleni Daniilidou (Gre) bt Saori Obata (Jpn) 6-2, 6-2Mary Pierce (Fra) bt Sandrine Testud (Fra x8) 6-3, 6-4Miriam Oremans (Ned) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (Usa x13) 7-5, 6-3
Filed by Sinead Gleeson
