CHRIS WILKINSON was never in with a chance of victory against an inspired Gustavo Kuerten during his first-round Wimbledon exit on a strangely hushed Centre Court yesterday.

The 6ft 3in Brazilian wielded a cud-gel of a forehand and a helicopter rotor blade of a back-hand - as well as a cannonball serve - and the 29-year-old Southampton star was blasted off court 6-4 6-4 6-4 in 87 minutes.

After the euphoria of wins by top two Brits Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski on Monday, Wilkinson emerged into the Centre Court sunlight to be greeted by a fair sprinkling of vacant seats.

And spectator participation hardly threatened to reach ear-splitting level as the occasional cry of 'come on Chris' failed to threaten the Brazilian's composure.

Wilkinson refused to blame lack of support for his defeat.

"It did not make any difference. I did not give them anything to shout about," he admitted.

Perhaps the most telling statistic was in the column recording points won at the net.

Getting forward quickly had to be the game plan for the British number three from Fair Oak. Former French Open champion Kuerten, who has won more than $1 million prizemoney in the last four months, was never going to be out-rallied from the baseline.

But the statistics tell the tale. Wilkinson rushed the net 64 times but won only 29 points there. Kuerten went there far less but won 12 points on 19 sorties.

"It was my best chance when he decided to serve and volley, the trouble was I could not get him to do it enough," said Wilkinson.

Dominant Keurten served up 16 aces with a top speed of 125mph, winning 92 per cent of points when he got his first service in.

And, as Wilkinson approched the net at every opportunity, Kuerten fired 15 forehand winners and 22 backhand cannonballs past the stranded Southampton player. In contrast, Wilkinson managed just three backhand passes and none on the forehand.

One service break in each set was enough to give Kuerten his win. The Brazilian seemed capable of upping his game when he scented blood, winning to love against serve in the seventh game of the first set, breaking Wilkinson to 15 in the fifth game of the second and leaving the coup de gras until the ninth game of the third set when the Southampton player was again allowed just the one point.

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.