Flanagan Fires Past Scud

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British qualifier Ian Flanagan caused the first major upset of this year's Stella Artois Championships by defeating former champion and No. 9 seed Mark Philippoussis in straight sets. Flanagan, currently at No. 866 in the INDESIT ATP Entry Rankings, qualified for his first ATP main draw this week and came through 7-6(2), 7-6(3) in 1 hour, 27 minutes to book his place in the second round against Victor Hanescu, a three-set winner over Goran Ivanisevic.

Flanagan, who left North Wales to pursue his tennis career in Nottingham five years ago, missed the better part of three years after suffering from glandular fever. But the 22-year-old, who won the gold medal at the youth Olympics in 1996, was at full strength against Philippoussis, firing 16 aces against the 2003 Wimbledon finalist.

"I knew I had a shot," said Flanagan. "But I was playing Mark Philippoussis, so I had to give him some credit. I thought I played pretty well, and I knew I had to just go out there and play my tennis."

The Briton, who is friends with snooker stars Willie Thorne and world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, also goes back a long way with top seed Andy Roddick. "We've known each other from our junior days," said Flanagan. "I think our personalities are pretty similar in that we can both be pretty loud at times. I've been over to see him in the States, and we hang out a bit while he's here. But while I'm out in Bangladesh playing Futures, he's out in Miami winning the NASDAQ-100 Open."

Flanagan, whose career earnings prior to this week were $6,229, will more than double that after reaching the second round. Looking ahead to his match against Hanescu, Flanagan said: "I haven't even thought about it yet…I'll probably think about it at three o'clock in the morning."

Philippoussis, who was looking to win his second title at The Queen's Club having defeated Ivanisevic in 1997, was ranked 849 places higher than his British opponent going into the match. The Australian now has a 8-13 record in 2004.

"It wasn't a great day today obviously," said Philippoussis. "I never felt comfortable from the start. I just felt off on everything. When it's like that in two tie-breaks, anything can happen. I'd never seen him play before, but he served well and hit his forehand pretty well so I take my hat off to him."

Meanwhile, Hanescu overcame former Wimbledon champion Ivanisevic in a three-set battle on Centre Court. Ivanisevic, just three wins short of 600 career victories, took the first set in the tie-break before going down 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour, 42 minutes. Hanescu claimed victory with his 29th ace of the match and limited Ivanisevic to 18.

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