Stephen Bierley
in Melbourne
If Justine Henin-Hardenne felt in any way unnerved to begin the Australian Open as such an overwhelming favourite, she showed no traces of it during a 6-0, 6-0 first-round victory - what the professionals call double bagel - over Olivia Lukaszewicz, a 15-year-old Australian wild card.
It was hardly surprising, given the teenager's paucity of experience, but greater players than Henin have found being favourite a burden and have been embarrassed in the opening week of a grand slam event.
Henin, the world number one and French and US champion, exudes confidence. She has always been a terrific fighter, as shown in her semi-final wins over Serena Williams at Roland Garros last year and against Jennifer Capriati at Flushing Meadows, but never has she looked so assured and at ease with herself, both on and off court.
"My win in Sydney last week gave me a lot of confidence," she said. "It was the first tournament where I was the number one player in the world, and that's not easy to deal with. But it was pretty good and now I'm really excited."
Undoubtedly it is an excitement underpinned by the fact that both Serena Williams, the reigning champion, and Capriati are absent injured while her great Belgian rival Kim Clijsters turned an ankle in the Hopman Cup and is struggling.
Her path was further eased when no fewer than six seeds fell on the first day, leading off with the Russians Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova, both in the top-10, along with Spain's Magui Serna, the American Meghann Shaughnessy, Slovenia's Tinu Pisnik and the Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn.
Of course Henin feels the need for a modicum of self-effacement. "I don't consider myself as the favourite. So many players can win this tournament."
Perhaps, but apart from France's Amelie Mauresmo and Venus Williams, whose last tournament was Wimbledon, the rest of the opposition did not cast too menacing a shadow yesterday.
Mauresmo, beaten in the 1999 final by Martina Hingis (now retired at 23 and working here for television), also made an impressive start yesterday with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Chia-Jung Chuang of Tapei, while Lindsay Davenport, the champion in 2000, beat Ruxandra Dragomir Ilie of Romania 6-2, 6-3.
Davenport felt rusty after a couple of days' rest and recuperation. "I didn't think I would play great just not after practising for a few days," she said. "My serve was not great, but I think it will get better as the tournament goes on."
It was a poor day for the Russians with the exit of both the number seven seed Dementieva - beaten 6-1, 6-4 by the up-and-coming Slovakian world number 79 Jelena Jankovic - and Petrova, the number 10 seed. Dementieva, as often with first-round losers, whinged on about this Open being too early in the year and the close season too short.
"I had Christmas with my family in Russia and did not get time to practise," she said. "My life is more important than my tennis." And they call themselves professionals.
Guardian Service
