Tennis Australian Open: Having arrived in Melbourne last week, and making a butcher's dog look seedy by comparison, Andre Agassi caused immediate concern for his fans when he pulled out of the exhibition event in Kooyong, the old home of the Australian Open, with a hip problem.
Agassi is a perfectionist who makes obsessive demands on himself. He is not prepared to take risks with minor niggles, so there was reason to suppose he might pull out of the Open. However, after using a warm-up match against Tim Henman on Saturday as a gauge, he stepped into the Rod Laver Arena yesterday and duly won his opening match 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 against the German qualifier Dieter Kindlmann.
The crowd had just witnessed something close to perfection as Roger Federer, the world number one and overwhelming favourite to retain his title, defeated an ailing Fabrice Santoro of France 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. Agassi may have felt duty bound not to let the standard slip, and duly obliged.
"I had the assurance that I was not going to pull anything bad, and the green light to push through anything I might be feeling. And that's what I did. I just pushed through a bit of stiffness and then it loosened up nicely," he said.
Whereas just about everything went right for Federer and Agassi, everything went wrong for Carlos Moya, the number five seed and former finalist here, who lost 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 against fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia Lopez, another qualifier.
At the end of last year Moya experienced the greatest occasion of his career when he led Spain to their Davis Cup final victory over the United States in Seville, a moment that topped his winning of the French Open title in 1998. His form continued into this year when he won his 18th career title in Chennai.
Moya has taken the decision, like Federer and Henman, not to play Davis Cup tennis this year, and had hopes of success here. He had beaten Garcia Lopez in Chennai, but this time rarely looked like repeating that win.
"I lost the rhythm and made many mistakes with my forehand. And once he won the first set he started to play better and I played worse and worse," said a disconsolate Moya. "Winning in Chennai was a perfect preparation, but something was wrong today."
The Australian Open and Roland Garros have a reciprocal arrangement over wild cards, which allowed France's Gael Monfils his first taste of grand slam tennis.
The hugely talented 18-year-old was the world junior champion last year, winning the titles in Australia, Paris and London. Here, displaying a maturity beyond his years, he beat the American Robby Ginepri 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6.
"I was nervous in the first set because it was my first grand slam. I was too excited and I was not focused on my game," he said. He seems destined to be very special indeed. - Guardian Service
Melbourne details: MEN'S SINGLES (first round)
(1) Rr Federer (Swi) bt F Santoro (Fra) 6-1 6-1 6-2, T Suzuki (Jpn) bt J-M Gambill (USA) 6-4 6-3 6-3, J Nieminen (Fin) bt D Sanguinetti (Ita) 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-2, (27) P Srichaphan (Tha) bt P Starace (Ita) 1-6 6-2 7-5 6-4, (22) I Ljubicic (Cro) bt L Horna (Per) 6-4 6-3 6-3, M Baghdatis (Cyp) bt F Luzzi (Ita) 6-1 3-6 6-1 3-6 6-3, T Zib (Cze) bt Y-T Wang (Tpe) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 6-4, (13) T Robredo (Spa) bt S Draper (Aus) 5-7 6-2 6-4 6-2, (11) J Johansson (Swe) bt S Schalken (Ned) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 6-3, P Wessels (Ned) bt Y-H Lu (Tpe) 6-3 6-4 6-4, S Sargsian (Arm) bt D Sanchez (Spa) 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 1-6 6-4 6-2, (24) F Lopez (Spa) bt PBaccanello (Aus) 7-5 7-5 6-2, (29) T Dent (USA) bt F Serra (Fra) 7-5 6-2 6-4, M Tabara (Cze) bt T Enqvist (Swe) 3-6 6-2 6-3 6-3, R Schuettler (Ger) bt O Patience (Fra) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 6-2, (8) A Agassi (USA) bt D Kindlmann (Ger) 6-4 6-3 6-0, (4) M Safin (Rus) bt N Djokovic (Ser) 6-0 6-2 6-1, B Ulihrach (Cze) bt I Karlovic (Cro) 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 7-5 6-2, B Phau (Ger) bt A Costa (Spa) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3, (28) M Ancic (Cro) bt O Hernandez (Spa) 6-3 6-2 6-1, O Rochus (Bel) bt (21) N Kiefer (Ger) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 6-3, GMonfils (Fra) bt R Ginepri (USA) 1-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (8-6), K Beck (Svk) bt T Reid (Aus) 6-2 6-2 6-1, (16) T Haas (Ger) bt X Malisse (Bel) 6-3 6-2 6-3, (10) G Gaudio (Arg) bt J Gimelstob (USA) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 6-3, M Fish (USA) bt J Monaco (Arg) 2-6 6-0 6-4 4-6 9-7, J Tipsarevic (Ser) bt D Bracciali (Ita) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6) 3-6 6-1, (20) D Hrbaty (Svk) bt R Soderling (Swe) 6-4 6-2 1-0 ret, (30) T Johansson (Swe) bt P Luczak (Aus) 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 6-3 4-6 6-0, A Calleri (Arg) bt M Mirnyi (Blr) 6-4 5-7 6-4 4-6 6-4, K Kim (USA) bt H T Lee (Kor) 3-6 6-4 6-3 3-6 6-1, G Garcia-Lopez (Spa) bt (5) C Moya (Spa) 7-5 6-3 3-6 6-3
WOMEN'S SINGLES (first round)
(5) S Kuznetsova (Rus) bt J Kirkland (USA) 6-1 6-1, M Bartoli (Fra) bt C Schaul (Lux) 6-1 6-3, M Diaz-Oliva (Arg) bt S Obata (Jpn) 6-3 6-4, (29) G Dulko (Arg) bt K Brandi (Pue) 6-3 3-6 6-3, (17) F Zuluaga (Col) bt S Sfar (Tun) 6-3 7-5, A-L Groenefeld (Ger) bt S Beltrame (Fra) 6-1 6-3, V Douchevina (Rus) bt J Craybas (USA) 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4, (9) V Zvonareva (Rus) bt N Liu (Chn) 6-4 6-2, (15) S Farina Elia (Ita) bt J Schruff (Ger) 6-3 6-4, M Domachowska (Pol) bt Ti Li (Chn) 6-1 3-6 6-0, E Baltacha (Gbr) bt K Srebotnik (Slo) 5-7 6-4 6-4, S Cohen Aloro (Fra) bt (24) M Pierce (Fra) 6-2 6-2, (28) S Asagoe (Jpn) bt A Barna (Ger) 6-4 6-2, N Li (Chn) bt L Granville (USA) 6-2 4-6 6-2, L Lee-Waters (USA) bt Z Gubacsi (Hun) 6-3 7-5, (4) M Sharapova (Rus) bt S Karatancheva (Bul) 6-3 6-1, (7) S Williams (USA) bt C Pin (Fra) 6-1 6-1, D Randriantefy (Mad) bt Z Ondraskova (Cze) 6-1 6-1, S Mirza (Ind) bt C Watson (Aus) 3-6 6-3 6-0, P Mandula (Hun) bt (30) F Pennetta (Ita) 3-6 6-1 6-3, (22) M Maleeva (Bul) bt M Serna (Spa) 6-1 6-1, A Jidkova (Rus) bt V Ruano Pascual (Spa) 4-6 6-1 6-4, S Ferguson (Aus) bt N Llagostera Vives (Spa) 2-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4, (11) N Petrova (Rus) bt V Razzano (Fra) 6-1 6-2, M Sucha (Svk) bt (16) A Sugiyama (Jpn) 7-5 6-4, E Linetskaya (Rus) bt L Kurhajcova (Svk) 6-4 6-1, D Chladkova (Cze) bt S Talaja (Cro) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3, (21) A Frazier (USA) bt M Irvin (USA) 7-5 6-1, A Ivanovic (Ser) bt (32) I Benesova (Cze) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1, M Kirilenko (Rus) bt A Kapros (Hun) 5-7 6-2 6-4, D Safina (Rus) bt J Zheng (Chn) 7-5 3-6 6-4, (2) A Mauresmo (Fra) bt S Stosur (Aus) 6-2 6-3
