Strange Day Has All Elements of a Disaster

And somewhere over the rainbow . . . there was a troubled tennis tournament.

Well, there was a double rainbow at Wimbledon early Saturday evening. That followed several stoppages of play because of torrents of rain. Then there was a fire at a 12-story apartment building adjoining the All England Club, sending plumes of smoke in the air and ash and cinders flying. It was the same kind of air quality you find near Court 16 at the U.S. Open when the burgers are being made at top speed.

Except here there were emergency helicopters buzzing the apartment building.

The intensity of the smoke led to the evacuation of Court 18 “for the health of the spectators.” There were no injuries reported at the apartment complex or tennis courts.

Oh, yeah, and they actually played some tennis. For a few minutes, at least.

The sixth-seeded Monica Seles probably summed it up best after her 6-2, 6-3 third-round victory over Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia. Seles, who won the first set Friday before the match was suspended, seemingly spent the last two days warming up and getting ready.

“It [the smoke] was pretty bad,” Seles said. “Both Yayuk and I felt we should stop, but at the end it was probably better to just go on because it doesn’t matter. We’ve seen everything today.”

Seles felt a sense of relief to actually reach the fourth round before the second week of the tournament. Officials decided not to schedule play today--a traditional day off. Last year, there was play on the middle Sunday.

“I think yesterday [Friday] I had about 10 warmups when we thought we would go on,” Seles said. “With the fire in the beginning [today], it was so strange to be out there.

“I was hoping it was OK to breathe this air in. But in the end, the rain came, in some way [it] was a good time for that.”

The players on Court 18 also were affected by the fire. Todd Martin and Australian Todd Woodbridge were tied, 2-2, in the fourth set of an intense third-round match when play was stopped. Martin won the first set, 6-4, lost the second, 6-4, and won the third, 7-6 (7-1).

Martin, in particular, was upset by the move.

“Can’t we just clear the court and play?” he asked officials. “This is ludicrous. . . . Who says we have to play in front of people?”

The stops and starts were frequent.

Defending champion and top-seeded Pete Sampras had his third-round match against Thomas Enqvist of Sweden interrupted three times. Sampras won the first set, 6-3, and the score was tied, 5-5, in the second when play was called off for good on Saturday.

The delays cooled off Sampras. Enqvist was powerless against Sampras’ potent serve at the start, failing to even put a service return in the court on the first 12 points on Sampras’ serve. Finally, on the 13th service point by Sampras, Enqvist hit a return winner.

Chanda Rubin, who will play Venus Williams in the third round Monday--weather permitting--needed two days to complete her victory against Tara Snyder because of the weather. The two started play Saturday tied at 7-7 in the third set. Rubin finally won, 3-6, 7-5, 11-9.

Defending champion and top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland had her first easy match in three rounds, defeating Elena Likhovtseva of Russia, 6-2, 6-1, in 47 minutes.

Hingis was asked about the absence of two potential threats--Anna Kournikova and Steffi Graf. Graf lost to Natasha Zvereva on Friday in the third round, and Kournikova withdrew before the start of the event because of a thumb injury suffered at a tournament in Eastbourne, England.

“More or less they were all on the other side [of the draw], and I wasn’t afraid of playing them,” Hingis said. “Tennis was a lot different last year. It was much easier for me to get through the first couple rounds.”

Which is what eighth-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain found out. The biggest surprise of the day came early, before the first round of showers. Martinez, who won here in 1994, was beaten by Samantha Smith of England, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

The 94th-ranked Smith had never won a match at Wimbledon, and now she is the first British female player to reach the fourth round here since two players did it 13 years ago.

Martinez said it was the most disappointing defeat of her career and that she was upset about the early start, 11 a.m., on Saturday, leading to a hurried preparation.

“The courts did not open until 10 and I rushed the whole morning and that showed in my mood,” Martinez said. “I didn’t feel I was there.”

Said the 26-year-old Smith: “I think that my win today will really give women’s tennis a boost in the country. If people see that I can do it, they’re going to go out there and think that they can do it too.”

There was one upset on the men’s side as Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands defeated 11th-seeded Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden, 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.

In England, the national week of pride continued with 12th-seeded Tim Henman’s third-round victory against Byron Black of Zimbabwe. That match also was a two-day affair that began Friday, and Henman finished it off, winning, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.

He said he was inspired by England’s World Cup victory on Friday against Colombia.

“It was a great result, great performance,” he said. “So we’re both through to the [final] 16s.”

Henman will play sixth-seeded Patrick Rafter of Australia in the round of 16.

“It’s going to be a different match with his style of play,” Henman said. “I’ve played three guys who have spent quite a lot of time on the baseline. I don’t find that particularly easy. I’m really looking forward to it.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Monday’s Featured Matches

Today is a traditional rest day at Wimbledon. Play will resume Monday.

MEN

* Pete Sampras (1), Tampa, Fla., vs. Thomas Enqvist, Sweden.

* Petr Korda (3), Czech Republic, vs. John van Lottum, Netherlands.

* Richard Krajicek (9), Netherlands, vs. Nicolas Kiefer, Germany.

* Patrick Rafter (6), Australia, vs. Tim Henman (12), Britain.

* Goran Ivanisevic (14), Croatia, vs. Daniel Vacek, Czech Republic.

WOMEN

* Lindsay Davenport (2), Newport Beach, vs. Magu Serna, Spain.

* Jana Novotna (3), Czech Republic, vs. Corina Morariu, Boca Raton, Fla.

* Monica Seles (6), Sarasota, Fla., vs. Sandrine Testud (14), France.

* Samantha Smith, Britain, vs. Nathalie Tauziat (16), France.

* Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (5), Spain, vs. Sylvia Plischke, Austria.

* Venus Williams (7), Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., vs. Chanda Rubin, Lafayette, La.

* Surina De Beer, South Africa, vs. Irina Spirlea (10), Romania.