Ivanisevic has to give in to the pain

Goran Ivanisevic's career is hanging by a torn thread holding the rototator cuff together in his left shoulder. His mind, meanwhile, is focused on a single time and place: 1pm at Wimbledon on Monday 24 June, when he is due to make his grand entrance on the Centre Court as the defending men's singles champion.

"I made my dream last year," the 30-year-old Croatian said. "If somebody told me before Wimbledon last year that if I won Wimbledon I would never play tennis again, I'd pick Wimbledon. Maybe God heard me and said, 'OK, it's enough for you'."

God is busy, and Ivanisevic, forced by pain to make another premature tournament retirement at the Nasdaq-100 Open here, faces two stark options: "If I have surgery, I can't play Wimbledon. If take two or three months off, I play Wimbledon. That is the only solution. The worst scenario would be to take the whole of the clay court season off and come to Wimbledon and to be in the same pain. Then I will probably hang myself in London somewhere."

Ivanisevic, seeded 14, could last no more than seven games in his opening match against Franco Squillari, of Argentina, and is resigned to being no more than a spectator at Croatia's forthcoming Davis Cup quarter-final in Buenos Aires.

Ivanisevic recited the prognosis by heart: "The rotor cuff is getting bigger. It can snap. The best thing would be if it snapped after Wimbledon, and then [the surgeon] could put it together again and I could come back after six months and it would be OK. My arm is just killing me. As soon as I hit the big serve, I can't hit a second shot. The doctor told me it's a lottery: one week it can be good, three weeks it can be bad."

Tim Henman, whose pain was psychological after his defeat by Ivanisevic and rain delays in last year's Wimbledon semi-finals, continued to flirt with his supporters' emotions in his second round match here. The fifth seed's display in overcoming the German qualifier Lars Burgsmüller 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, was as uneven as the score.

The opening set owed as much to Burgsmüller's ineptitude as Henman's expertise, roles that were reversed in the second set. The British No 1 swept into a 4-0 lead in the final set, only to beckon Burgsmüller back into the contest before finishing the job.

Henman, who next plays Felix Mantilla for a place in the last 16, was puzzled when asked how he felt about being introduced as "the good-looking lad from London with the flashy, awkward game" by the announcer, Wayne Bryan. "Awkward?" Henman said. "Is that awkward or all-court? I'd be happy if if it's all-court. I'm not sure about awkward." Bryan, the father of the American doubles players, Bob and Mike, had been misheard.

Andre Agassi has won his opening two matches in less than two hours, following up Friday's demolition of Greg Rusedski, the British No 2, by despatching Agustin Calleri, of Argentina, 6-3, 6-2. Calleri hit some cracking shots, but made too many errors, particularly on his serve, to press the defending champion.

In the women's singles, Jennifer Capriati, the world No 1, reached the last 16 after a narrow escape against Anastasia Myskina, of Russia, who was broken when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set.

Capriati went on to win, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Myskina, who recovered from 1-3 to take the first set, also fought back from 1-3 in the second set. There were four breaks of serve at the start of the final set before Capriati won the concluding five games.

Serena Williams, the eighth seed, advanced to the last 16, defeating Katarina Srebotnik, a wild card from Slovakia, 6-1, 6-0, after 46 minutes. Daniela Hantuchova, of Slovakia, the Indian Wells champion, and the sixth seed Justine Henin of Belgium lost at the start of Saturday's programme.