Samsung Open: Childs back to earth

The bright new hope of British tennis crashed out 6-2, 6-4 to Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in the second round of the Samsung Open.

Defeat was by no means a disgrace for the national champion, although it emphasised the hard work which lies ahead if Childs is to become the 'real deal'.

The lofty Ljubicic is a talented player. A former Wimbledon junior finalist, he has beaten the likes of Marat Safin, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Goran Ivanisevic this year.

He raced through the first set, breaking Childs in the opening game and the fifth and dropping only two points on his own serve.

Childs made a much better fist of it in the second set. He broke Ljubicic for the only time in the match to lead 2-0, only to spurn the advantage with a trio of forehand errors.

Ljubicic reeled off four games in a row before finishing the match in style in 1hr 10mins with successive aces.

Childs looked a little uncertain when venturing to the net, but there was a comforting verdict for the 18-year-old Somerset prospect from the victor.

"I was expecting him to be at the net more, but everything else is pretty good," said Ljubicic, ranked 77th in the champions race.

"I was trying to make him play a lot, but I think he is going to be very dangerous. He just needs more experience.

"He has a forehand, a backhand, a good serve and if he can win the US Open junior doubles he must be able to volley. He just needs time, then he will be tough."

Childs said: "I wasn't pleased with the first set. After that I tried to pick myself up and get into the match and the second set wasn't bad at all.

"I had my chances and didn't quite take them. When he had chances he did and that was the difference.

"He is a powerful player with a good serve and good groundstrokes, but I felt comfortable playing him. I didn't feel out of my depth, but there is a lot of hard work for me to do to be able to perform week in week out like he does."

Anyone doubting whether Childs has what it takes to join the big league should listen to Tim Henman.

The British No. 1 watched Childs beat Sargis Sargsian in the first round and he regards him as the best of the recent young pretenders.

"It was a really impressive debut for him on tour," Henman observed.

"Sargsian is no mean competitor.

"Everybody has got to appreciate he has a long way ahead of him and there are going to be all sorts of ups and downs, but he has a very good future.

"Other prospects always had a weakness, physically, technically or mentally. He has all the tools to work with.

"I didn't have a professional ranking on my 18th birthday, so he is a long way in front of where I was.

"The promising thing is he had results in the juniors and now he is starting to have results in the seniors. That is the transition people struggle to cope with."

Childs' handsome consolation for his efforts this week is a cheque for more than £4,000 to add to the £7,000 he won as national champion.

That would be enough to buy a new car when he passes his driving test, which is the next priority along with an appearance in the European Team Cup in Italy and improving his serve-volley game.

"I won't spend it all," Childs added. "I think I will look after it pretty well.

"I've enjoyed being in the spotlight. It's a new experience for me and all part of learning."

Ljubicic, who knocked out French third seed Fabrice Santoro on Tuesday, is now looking forward to a revenge clash in the quarter-finals.

Vladimir Voltchkov was his conqueror in the final of the Wimbledon juniors four years ago.

Voltchkov has been given a free passage into the last eight. Diego Nargiso, his second round opponent, withdrew after injuring a calf playing doubles yesterday.

Nargiso's fellow Italian David Sanguinetti ended the challenge of British No. 5 Barry Cowan. The seventh seed won 6-4, 6-3.

Sanguinetti plays the winner of Popp v Hrbaty, the last match on tonight, in the quarters. young pretenders. "It was a really impressive debut for him on tour," Henman observed.

"Sargsian is no mean competitor.

"Everybody has got to appreciate he has a long way ahead of him and there are going to be all sorts of ups and downs, but he has a very good future.

"Other prospects always had a weakness, physically, technically or mentally. He has all the tools to work with.

"I didn't have a professional ranking on my 18th birthday, so he is a long way in front of where I was.

"The promising thing is he had results in the juniors and now he is starting to have results in the seniors. That is the transition people struggle to cope with."

Childs' handsome consolation for his efforts this week is a cheque for more than £4,000 to add to the £7,000 he won as national champion.

That would be enough to buy a new car when he passes his driving test, which is the next priority along with an appearance in the European Team Cup in Italy and improving his serve-volley game.

"I won't spend it all," Childs added. "I think I will look after it pretty well.

"I've enjoyed being in the spotlight. It's a new experience for me and all part of learning."

Ljubicic, who knocked out French third seed Fabrice Santoro on Tuesday, is now looking forward to a revenge clash in the quarter-finals.

Vladimir Voltchkov was his conqueror in the final of the Wimbledon juniors four years ago.

Voltchkov has been given a free passage into the last eight. Diego Nargiso, his second round opponent, withdrew after injuring a calf playing doubles yesterday.

Nargiso's fellow Italian David Sanguinetti ended the challenge of British No. 5 Barry Cowan. The seventh seed won 6-4, 6-3.

Sanguinetti now faces second seed Dominik Hrbaty. The Slovak recovered from dropping the first set to German Alexander Popp to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.