Switzerland's Martina Hingis plays a return to Britain's Naomi Cavaday during their women's singles match at the Wimbledon tennis champion-ships in London yesterday. Hingis won 6-7, 7-5, 6-0. - Reuters LONDON (Reuters):
Martina Hingis was nearly caught napping on a gloomy day at Wimble-don before she woke up in the nick of time to reach the second round of the grasscourt Grand Slam.
A decade from her 1997 title triumph, Hingis seemed to have forgotten her status as ninth seed and twice came within a point of losing to a woman who had won only two tour matches in her career.
In the end, British wildcard Naomi Cavaday possessed neither the self belief nor the energy to pull off the biggest win of her career and bowed out 6-7, 7-5, 6-0.
Hingis initially appeared to bemused by her great escape but then showed her ruthless streak, rolling over Cavaday in the decider.
Back injury
"It was never on my mind that I'm going to lose," said Hingis, who missed the French Open with a back injury. "I know court two is a graveyard of champions, but I've never lost there. I'm still in the draw. It's all that matters."
Cavaday added: "I'm incredibly gutted I didn't make it."
Hingis' Swiss compatriot, defending men's champion Roger Federer, chose a more straight-forward route into the second round with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, victory over Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili.
Third seed Andy Roddick cursed his luck when he was drawn in the same half as Federer, but the American was in fine form yesterday when he took the first steps towards a possible semi-final showdown with the top seed. He fired 16 aces en route to a 6-1, 7-5, 7-6, win over fellow American Justin Gimelstob.
Justine Henin and former champion Serena Williams overcame dank and distracting conditions to progress.
French Open winner and top seed Henin began her bid to complete her set of major trophies with 6-3, 6-0, humbling of little-known Argentine qualifier Jorgelina Cravero.
Williams proved equally un-stoppable, overwhelming Spain's Lourdes Dominguez Lino 7-5, 6-0.
On course
Drizzle delayed the start of Federer's match by almost two hours. Despite playing his first match on grass in 12 months, the world number one provided enough evidence to suggest he was on course to match Swede Bjorn Borg's five successive titles this year.
"I've got so much confidence, so much experience on this surface that I always expect myself to play good matches on grass," said Federer. "That's what happened today and hopefully the next match can be as good."
Australian Open runner-up and fifth seed Fernando Gonzalez survived a first set hiccup to overcome Robby Ginepri 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-2.
