Grinning Greg Rusedski Through in ATP Indianapolis Opener

Rusedski, who had 19 aces to 12 doubles, will now face No. 11 seed Joachim "Not Thomas" Johansson.

"I think I'm getting better with every match," Rusedski said. "I'm starting to get that mental toughness and match toughness that I was lacking the first part of this year."

Earlier this month Rusedski captured his first title since being cleared of doping charges by the ATP, winning on the grass at Newport.

In the only other matches on the day, Frenchman Thierry Ascione beat American Jeff Salzenstein, while local American wildcard Rajeev Ram edged Wesley Moodie 7-6 in the third.

On tap today in Indy are (WC)Delic vs. K.Beck, (LL)Hernych vs. Gambill, (SE)Morrison vs. Benneteau, Ascione vs. (4)Srichaphan, (10)Ljubicic vs. (WC)R.Ram, (Q)Vahaly vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, (Q)Reid vs. Llodra, Santoro vs. H.-T. Lee, Carlsen vs. (LL)Bogomolov Jr., Elseneer vs. (LL)Jeanpierre, Arthurs vs. (Q)De Voest, (Q)Okun vs. Lu, (Q)Kratochvil vs. Vacek, (Q)De Chaunac vs. Dupuis in an all-French, and Sargsian vs. Carraz.

Not a lot of excitement on a seedless Monday on the dirt in Kitzbuhel, with winners (Q)Franco "The Squirrel" Squillari (d. (Q)Mathieu), Dick "Not Magnus" Norman (d. Di Mauro in three), (Q)Yuri Schukin (d. (WC)Ager in three, don't know who the hell those two are), quick-riser Akejandro "Yer Gonna" Falla (d. A.Garcia), (WC)Werner Eschauer (d. (WC)Schiessling), Santoago Ventura (d. Pescosolido), (Q)Frantisek Cermak (d. Ivo "I Used to Date Martina" Heuberger), Aussie Peter Luczak (d. Peya), Argentine riser Juan "The Tax Haven" Monaco (d. Guzman), Martin Vassallo Arguello (d. N.Thomann 6-1 in the third), Oscar Hernandez (d. Al "The Drop-Out Dragon" Portas), and (Q)Ivo Minar (d. "Julio &" Galo Blanco). Yes, those are some ugly-ass results and yes, it is a tour-level event, not a Challenger.

On court Tuesday are M.Lopez vs. "You Say" Potito Starace, Rosset vs. Koubek, (WC)Eschauer vs. (11)Costa, Luczak vs. (6)Mayer, Stepanek vs. (Q)Gimeno-Traver, Tabara vs. (WC)Seppi, (10)Ferrer vs. Monaco, and (7)Luis "Me So" Horna vs. Falla.

Only one seed in action Monday at Umag, with (8)Karol "Little Cat" Kucera bounced by Belgium's Olivier Rochus in straight sets.

Kristof Vliegen (d. Mutis) was another unseeded waffle winner, joined by fellow un-seeds Guillermo Garcia Lopez (d. Hanescu in three) and Nicolas Almagro (d. Behrend) of Spain, home Croatian wildcard Zeljko Krajan (d. Vanek in three), and qualifiers Florent Serra of France (d. Bohdan "I Already Got Paid" Ulihrach) and (WC)Fernando Vicente (d. (WC)Tuksar).

On court today in Umag are Ramirez Hidalgo vs. (2)Novak, four-time Umag champ (1)Moya vs. (WC)Karanusic, (6)Canas vs. Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience, (7)Saretta vs. (Q)Wawrinka, (4)Volandri vs. (Q)Djokovic, Zib vs. (3)Andreev, Acasuso vs. C.Rochus, Calatrava vs. Di Pasquale, and Golmard vs. (5)A.Martin.

WTA REVIEWS/PREVIEWS

Two lower seeds bombed out Monday at LA, with (12)Silvia Farina Elia (l. to Morigami) and (13)Fabiola "The Fabulous One" Zuluaga (l. to Barna) sent packing on day one. The only seeded player to advance was (11)Francesca Schiavone, pounding American Shenay "Not Ready for Prime Time" Perry 6-0, 6-3.

Un-seeds into the second round were two American wildcards and a qualifier in (WC)Jessica Kirkland (d. Garbin), (WC)Ashley "Anna 2.0" Harkleroad (d. Asagoe), and (Q)Lilia Osterloh (d. Obata); Frenchwomen Marion Bartoli (d. Tanasugarn in three) and Nathalie Dechy (d. C.Martinez); luscious Luxembourg lucky loser Anne "Cosmo" Kremer (d. Granville 6-0 in the third), Slovak Tina Pisnik (d. Strycova in three), and Croat Jelena Kostanic (d. Martina "Stop the Bleeding with a" Sucha in three).

On today in LA are Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier vs. Jidkova, Hantuchova vs. Black, Shaughnessy vs. Jankovic, Dementieva vs. Osterloh, Harkleroad vs. V.Williams in a must-watch, Petrova vs. Kirkland, Pratt vs. Mandula, Daniilidou vs. Ashley, Lee-Waters vs. Schnyder, Smashnova-Pistolesi vs. Ruano Pascual (not a doubles match), Gisela "Sgt." Dulko vs. Vento-Kabchi, Spears vs. Benesova, Schett vs. Schaul, and Castellvi vs. Likhovtseva.

All three seeds in action advanced at the low-rent WTA stop in Palmermo Monday in (2)Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues (d. Vakulenko), (3)Denisa "Hanging" Chladkova (d. Rittner in three) and (4)Katarina Srebotnik (d. Arvidsson).

The Ukraine's Yulia Beygelzimer was the lone unseeded winner, beating Italy's Adriana Serra Zanetti 6-0 in the third.

Also completed was the last round of singles qualifying, with four onto the big dance in Marta Domachowska (POL), Delia Sescioreanu (ROM), Darija Jurak (CRO), and Anastasia Yakimova (BLR). Soon to be household names all.

On court in Palermo today are Kurhajcova vs. An.Serra Zanetti, Sescioreanu vs. Grande, Testud vs. Cervanova, Jugic-Salkic vs. Pennetta, Casoni vs. Martinez Granados, Klara "Kouky" Koukalova vs. Jurak, Cohen-Aloro vs. Nagyova, Melina "The Fifth Element" Czink vs. Groenefeld, Llagostera Vives vs. Gagliardi, Schruff vs. Vinci, Yakimova vs. Domachowska, and Fedak vs. Beltrame.

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NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
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