Henman Turns Up the Power to Break Tarango in L.A.

Second-seeded Tim Henman may have easily advanced in the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Cup, but his second-round match Wednesday night against Jeff Tarango presented a considerably tougher challenge.

Yet youth and power prevailed over experience again as Henman defeated Tarango, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA.

“This is my first tournament since Winbledon,” said Henman, 23, who lost only three games in his opening-round victory over Grant Stafford. “I am pleased with the way I played. The only criticism I have is I have a few inconsistencies, but it’s ideal to have a tough match and win.”

Henman may have been inconsistent, but he demonstrated his grasp of the power game as well as his groundstrokes. He out-aced 29-year-old Tarango, 13-4, including the fastest serve of the day, clocked at 137 mph in the tiebreaker, and the Englishman won 82% of his first serves.

After a long tiebreaker that ended the first set in Henman’s favor, Manhattan Beach’s Tarango took the early lead, 4-1, in the second. Henman then became more patient on the baseline and waited for Tarango to hit to him instead of challenging him at the net as he did in the first set. The strategy paid off, and Henman took the next four games and the lead, 5-4.

During the streak, Tarango’s frustration became more visible, as he broke his racket over his knee after losing the seventh game of the second set and then protested a time violation to chair umpire Norm Chryst during the next game.

“I was just disappointed with myself for losing my serve when I was ahead like that,” Tarango said. “I think it was a little machismo racket break. I just wanted to clear my head.”

Despite all the commotion, Tarango made a final effort to take the second set, by returning Henman’s volley cross-court to tie the second set at 5-5. However, Henman’s patience and solid serving gave him the final two games of the match.

In the day matches Wednesday, Guillaume Raoux of France offered a refreshing change of pace. The breath of fresh air might have come from his overwhelming pride over his favorite soccer team’s recent World Cup victory. Or maybe it was from his frequently changing hair colors--blue, gray and blond, in that order.

But there was more something else.

Raoux said he does not know who Dennis Rodman is. Maybe something was lost in the translation, but he looked genuinely confused when asked whether he was the French version of the NBA’s Rodman, because of his different hair colors.

Perhaps Raoux was a bit tired after a strenuous test in which he defeated Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (7-1), 7-6 (7-3).

In other second-round matches, seventh-seeded Byron Black of Zimbabwe defeated Gianluca Pozzi of Italy, 6-3, 6-2, and 25-year-old qualifier Michael Joyce of Brentwood beat Sargis Sargsian of Armenia, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Clearly, the hardest-fought match was between Raoux and Carlsen.

“I hate to play him,” Raoux said.

His dislike of playing Carlsen is not manifested in the statistics. Despite a series of tight matches, Raoux is 6-0 against Carlsen. “When you play a tiebreaker in the third set, you think about it [past history],” Raoux said. “You think, ‘I never lose to him and he never beats me.’ ”

Raoux, a semifinalist here in 1997, will play Joyce in Friday’s quarterfinals. In their only previous match, Joyce lost to Raoux in 1996. So, what color was the hair of Raoux then? “I think it was green,” said Joyce, joking. “I saw him [here] and I didn’t even recognize him. That’s what happens when you haven’t been around.”

Joyce was off the tour for an extended period after he suffered a ruptured tendon in his left wrist during a match against Michael Chang in Washington D.C. a year ago. He had surgery and returned to the circuit in April.

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