Safin loses to Belgium's Rochus

When Marat Safin found himself eliminated from Wimbledon on the Centre Court this afternoon, it was one giant leap for a very small man.

The unheralded Olivier Rochus, all 5ft 5in of him, looked up at the towering form of the second seed and felt no fear. The Belgian, who must have been barely visible over the net to the 6ft 4in Safin, took the first two sets 6-2, 6-4 before Safin snatched the third 6-3.

But Rochus then took the fourth set 7-6 to record a famous victory.

As a boy Rochus' sole ambition was "to be tall". Now aged 21, today he earned the right to walk tall.

Safin's principal achievement during the match was to find no end of new and exciting ways to make unforced errors. Volleys, groundstrokes, serves - all went begging. As the match went on the former US Open champion generously gifted more than 10 games worth of free points to his opponent.

On the day that the Centre Court celebrated its 80th birthday, this second round encounter was scarcely textbook lawn tennis. None of this serve-and-volley nonsense. Both remained glued to the baseline whenever possible. Safin spent the match chuntering under his breath, furiously issuing himself with instruction after instruction.

In no time at all Safin, who used to break rackets whenever he got into one of his regular huffs, was becoming crosser and crosser as Rochus ran off with the first two sets in just 64 minutes.

The crowd's increasing affection for the diminutive Belgian did not improve his opponent's mood. Safin managed not to hurl any rackets to the ground, but instead took to slamming them against the netcord in frustration.