return from the precipice yesterday with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Kenny Thorne at Coral Beach and Tennis Club.
But two other seeds -- Martin Sinner of Germany, ranked third in Bermuda, and Patrick McEnroe of the US, ranked seventh -- weren't so lucky. Sinner lost to compatriot Karsten Braasch 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 while McEnroe lost to Karim Alami of Morocco 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).
In last night's feature match Christian Bergstrom won the battle of the Swedes with a 6-2, 7-5 straight sets triumph over tour legend Mats Wilander.
Martin, number 14 on the ATP tour, had his hands full with Thorne, a successful qualifier at the weekend but perched several notches below at 192, in the one hour, 42 minute battle of Americans on Stadium Court.
It was a tortuous first set for the six-foot-six righthander, who looked as if he would join Sinner, McEnroe and New Zealand's Brett Steven, three of the Open's top seeds now sitting idly on the sidelines.
A rueful acceptance of Martin's fate seemed to grab hold among the crowd as Thorne captured the last five games of the first set, breaking his ballyhooed opponent's serve twice in the process.
"Obviously he's a much higher ranked player but I've known Todd for a number of years, so it didn't put that much extra pressure on me,'' said Thorne, who's proven in six qualifying attempts this year that nice guys don't always finish last.
With Thorne ahead 5-2, Martin became more and more agitated with the condition of the clay surface, a constant source of frustration with several players since the qualifying rounds. He stated his case with ATP Tour supervisor Gayle Bradshaw and things didn't get much better for Martin after a 10-minute delay when Jose Vieira and his maintence crew worked on the clay.
"The (clay) has had some pretty extreme conidtions since we've been here,'' Martin said later. "I'm sure that it's used to the amount of play it's getting right now and I'm sure it's not used to the intensity of the play.
"When you know about something being a little bit askew before you even go out there you end up looking for (things) and I looked a little bit too much.
And then even a couple of times it was very noticable. I was just glad that the ATP guys and the court maintenance crew were willing to do what they did to keep the court in playable shape.'' Martin said he told Bradshaw that "it wasn't really fair because at that point I felt like whoever had the better drop shot was going to win. If you disguised it at all, which Kenny does very well, it was going to be difficult.
I'm not very quick in the first place and not really at home on the clay yet and a little bit clumsy with my centre of gravity being so high. Trying to chase down balls where you're slipping on your first stride, well, it's really a lost cause.'' In other singles matches yesterday Australian Jason Stoltenberg, the Open's second seed, defeated Lou Gloria of the US 6-4, 6-4; Javier Frana of Argentina beat Wade McGuire of the US 6-2, 6-2; American Vince Spadea topped Italian Stefano Pescosolido 7-5, 6-2; Marcio Carlsson of Brazil won his first-ever tour match with a win over Mark Merklein of the US 6-4, 6-1 and Jordi Arrese of Spain beat Carl-Uwe Steeb of Germany 6-3, 6-2, in the only match so far involving players who've faced each other before.
Wilander bravely struggled back after losing the first set, but eventually lost his second match in a row to a fellow countryman, the last one coming against Jonas Bjorkman at the Lipton Championships.
Bergstrom, winning his first match of the year and on the comeback trail after shoulder surgery and a bout of food poisoning, was forced into playing more defensively in the second set.
"(Tonight) I felt like I could serve almost 100 percent,'' said Bergstrom.
"But on some serves I took it pretty easy, too. I think I played very well the first set and then he dictated play.'' Wilander continued to gather steam as the one hour, 48 minute match progressed. "I was close in the second set, he just wasn't passing as well and lobbing as well,'' he said.
The crowd appeared to be squarely behind Wilander and "that helped me get back into the match.'' Wilander's first serve percentage was slightly higher than Bergstrom's (78 to 63 percent) but Bergstrom was more effective in points won on his first (22 of 56) and second (10 of 16) serves.
Earlier in the day there was some doubt about Martin's playing shape, competing in his first match since a loss to Todd Woodbridge at the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Florida last month. He's also had to overcome a bad case of bronchitis and was coughing frequently during the match.
"I felt a little winded a little early, but I think it was just a little anxiety,'' said the likeable five-year pro. Martin is seeking his fifth career title in Bermuda and was a champion at Memphis earlier in 1995.
"It's been a month since I've played a match, but I didn't feel any problems in the third (set) which is when you would think there would be some problems.
I just needed to settle down a little bit and get my wits about me.'' After a drought without a point in four games, Martin finally got back on track in the second game of the second set and appeared to suddenly catch fire by notching victories in four straight games. Thorne didn't give up, however, trimming Martin's lead to 4-3 after a couple of wins.
Martin eventually won that one and with a 3-2 lead in the third set Thorne looked like he was about to pull off another Open shocker.
"He didn't start off too fast and I knew it was going to be a fight somewhere down the stretch,'' said Thorne, who gained the admiration of the crowd if not the career breakthrough victory he was so desperately seeking.
Said Martin: "Kenny played great and I went out there hoping to be able to truly control play from start to finish and the first set I was unable to control play at all. He was hitting a lot of drop shots which really doesn't give me a chance to hit the ball much and I got a little disappointed with the court.'' "It's good for me to win a match where I'm not playing my best, but certainly I'd rather play my best,'' added Martin, whose playmaking abilities and marksmanship, whether under pressure or safely ahead, blossomed late in the match.
"I didn't serve very well until the last three or four games and fortunately in the last game I served very well and that needs to happen consistently straight through the match. I shouldn't get broken five times in a match regardless of the surface.'' In the day's first match on Stadium Court, Stoltenberg increased the Aussies' record to 3-0 at the Open (Jamie Morgan and Tebbutt were winners on Monday).
Ranked 25th on the tour, Stoltenberg was pleased with his victory since it was his first match since suffering an arm injury.
"Hopefully that's all behind me now,'' said Stoltenberg. "I hadn't played Lou before and I didn't really know what to expect and he made me run a lot and it's pretty hot here but it was exactly the type of match that I needed to start.'' Stadium Court (Matches start at 11.00 a.m.) Bryan Shelton, US v Bohdan Ulihrach, Czech Republic Jordi Arrese, Spain v Jason Stoltenberg, Australia Vince Spadea, US v Christian Bergstrom, Sweden (Not before 6.30 p.m.) Todd Martin, US v Michael Tebbutt, Australia Don Johnson, US/Ken Thorne, US v Brett Steven, New Zealand/Jason Stoltenberg, Australia Court Five (Matches start at 11.00 a.m.) Karim Alami, Morocco v Javier Frana, Argentina Mauricio Hadad, Colombia v Lars Jonsson, Sweden Christian Miniussi, Argentina/Maurice Ruah, Venezuela v Alex Antonitsch, Austria/Martin Sinner, Germany Karim Alami, Morocco/Stefano Pescosolido, Italy v Gaston Etlis, Argentina/Daniel Orsanic, Argentina Court Seven (Matches start at 11.00 a.m.) Jamie Morgan, Australia v Radomir Vasek, Czech Republic Marcio Carlsson, Brazil v Karsten Braasch, Germany Javier Frana, Argentina/Patrick McEnroe, US v Doug Flach, US/Bryan Shelton, USS Jordi Arrese, Spain/Laszki Markovits, Hungary v Otavio Della, Brazil/Gabor Koves, Hungary Photos by Tony Cordeiro MATS WILANDER -- the former world number one suffered a 6-2, 7-5 first round defeat last night to fellow Swede Christian Bergstrom TODD MARTIN -- made to struggle in a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over his American compatriot Kenny Thorne.
