Federer Wins in Debut, Names Roche as Coach for 2005

No. 6 seed Ivan Ljubicic (d. (Q) Wawrinka) and No. 7 Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez (d. Volandri) also advanced into the second round in straight sets, joined by un-seeds Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea (d. (Q) Stakhovky), Britain's Greg Rusedski (d. Hernych) who earned a second-round meeting with Federer, Italian qualifier Uros Vico (d. Mahut in three), and Spanish wildcard Marc "M-Lo" Lopez (d. Ulihrach).

On court Tuesday at the Oil Open are Santoro vs. T.Johansson (the Swede leads their career meetings 7-1), (3) Grosjean vs. Muller, (WC) Monfils vs. (2) Gaudio, Nadal vs. (4) Youzhny, "Dr." Ivo Karlovic vs. (8) Davydenko, D.Sanchez vs. A.Costa, (WC) Abdulla vs. Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, Beck vs. Andreev, and (5) Pavel vs. (Q) Chiudinelli.

Aussies Stumble, Kiefer Leads Seeded Advance at ATP Adelaide

Australian players were 0-2 Monday on day one at the ATP stop in Adelaide, with big-serving unseeded hope Wayne Arthurs edged 7-5 in the third by No. 7 seed Florian "Oscar" Mayer, and wildcard Paul Baccanello dismissed by France's Cyril Saulnier.

"It's not a nice way to lose a match after two hours out there," said Arthurs, who argued with officials after a questionable call during the final game, then went on to lose the last three points. "I'm not blaming that particular point...yeah I am a little bit."

Two other seeds moved into the second round in No. 3 Nicolas Kiefer (d. Schalken in three) and No. 8 Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer (d. Berdych in three).

Other unseeded winners were Swedish veteran Thomas Enqvist (d. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter) and diminutive Belgian Olivier "The Roach" Rochus (d. Dupuis 6-1 in the third).

The final round of qualifying was also completed, with four more into the main draw in former NCAA champion Amer Delic (d. Bogomolov), and three Frenchmen in Arnaud Clement (d. Baker), Jean Lisnard (d. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze), and Sebastien De Chaunac (d. Kadir).

Scheduled for Tuesday Down Under are A.Martin vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, Ginepri vs. (5) Dent in an all-American, (WC) Kimmich vs. (2) Joachim "Pim-Pim" Johansson, (4) Chela vs. Sargis "Sarge" Sargsian, (1) Hewitt vs. (Q) Clement, (Q) Delic vs. (WC) Reid in an all-future match-up, "You Say" Potito Starace vs. Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau, (6) Stepanek vs. Kohlschreiber, Nieminen vs. Calleri, and an all-French in (Q) De Chaunac vs. (Q) Lisnard.

Schuettler Loses Patience at ATP Chennai

No. 3 seed Rainer Schuettler continued his early-year bad luck streak Monday at the Chennai Open in India, losing his opener 6-2, 6-2 to unseeded Frenchman Olivier "All We Need is Just a Little" Patience.

"It was the first time I was playing against him and I knew he was a solid player," said Schuettler, who was in unforced error spray-mode throughout the match. "Today, it wasn't a matter of who my opponent was, because in my opinion I would have lost to anybody in the draw and I am quite disappointed at my performance."

Schuettler was the Cinderella story of 2003, winning two titles in four finals (including an Australian Open runner-up) and qualifying for the year-end Masters Cup, but in 2004 crashed to Earth with six opening-round losses in his first seven events.

No. 7-seeded Frenchman Gregory Carraz (l. to Garcia) was another upset victim Monday, while Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu (d. (WC) Paes) was the lone seed to advance on the day.

Unseeded winners were Swiss Ivo "I Dated Hingis" Heuberger (d. (WC) P.Amritraj), American Justin "Time" Gimelstob (d. countryman Gambill), Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Tipsarevic), Czech Michal Tabara (d. Vanek 7-6 in the third), Belgium's Kristof Vliegen (d. Ventura in three), and Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (d. Van Scheppingen in three).

The final round of qualifying was also completed with four onto the big dance in Marcos "Bombs Over" Baghdatis (CYP), Nicolas Devilder (FRA), Julien Knowle (AUT), and India's own "That's" Harsh Mankad.

On court Tuesday in Chennai are (WC) Rastogi vs. (4) Bjorkman, (1) Moya vs. (Q) Knowle, Christophe "The Roach" Rochus vs. (2) Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, (8) K.Kim vs. (Q) Mankad, Okun vs. (5) Carlsen, Zib vs. Burgsmuller, and an all-qualifier in Devilder vs. Baghdatis.

Stosur Shocks Spreminator at WTA Gold Coast

Aussie Sam Stosur thrilled the homies Monday at the WTA stop at Gold Coast with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 4 seed Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem in her 2005 debut.

"Playing her I don't get fazed by all her power," Stosur said. "I know exactly what I want to do against her and I did it again today and got my most convincing win over her."

Wildcard Jaslyn Hewitt came up on the short end of a three-setter, losing 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 to Czech Klara "Kouky" Koukalova.

"I was really happy with the way I played in the second set. It was some of the best tennis I've ever played," said the 21-year-old Hewitt. "My inexperience came out in the third set and I put in a crap of a game at 2-1, but next time I'll learn. The lesson was that I could match it with them and that gives me a lot of confidence. She's Top 50 and in that second set I could have had it 6-0."

Seeded winners on the day were No. 2 Patty "Handshake" Schnyder (d. Razzano) and No. 7 Elena Likhovtseva (d. Loit in three).

Two qualifiers also punched through to the second round in 15-year-old Bulgarian Sesil "The Mouth" Karatantcheva (d. Camerin) and France's Camille Pin (d. Barna), while qualifier Zi Yan of China was easily dismissed by Frenchwoman-child Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin.

Scheduled for Tuesday are Petrova vs. Zheng, Haynes vs. Pratt, Kouky vs. Maleeva, Dinara "Little Sis" Safina vs. Sugiyama, Chladkova vs. Farina Elia, and Stosur vs. Benesova.

Frazier Upholds Seeding with Win at WTA Auckland

American Amy "Joltin' Joe" Frazier upheld her No. 1 seeding at the WTA stop in Auckland with an opening-round win Monday, defeating countrywoman and good friend Laura Granville 6-3, 6-3.

"I'm so happy with the way I played today," said Frazier, who yanked Granville from side to side after overcoming some early nerves. "I think in the first match of the year everyone's a little anxious."

No. 5 seed Marion Bartoli (d. Spears 0-and-1) was also a winner, while No. 7 Maria Vento-Kabchi was upset by Slovak Martina "Nurse, Hand Me a" Sucha in straight sets.

Un-seeds into the second round were Russian Tatiana "The Pocket Baseliner" Panova (d. Lee-Waters), American Shenay Perry (d. Domachowska in three), and Russian wildcard Lina Krasnoroutskaya (d. Kapros).

Petra Mandula of Hungary withdrew Monday with a back injury, replaced in main draw by Meilen Tu.

Four players ascended into the main draw with the completion of the singles qualifying Monday in Yuka Yoshida (JPN), Janetta Husarova (SVK), Shahar Peer (ISR), and Marie-Eve Pelletier (CAN).

On court Tuesday are Asagoe vs. Perebiynis, Schaul vs. Jankovic, Erakovic vs. Pelletier, Jidkova vs. Srebotnik, Santangelo vs. the two-time defending champ Daniilidou, Husarova vs. Brandi, Safarova vs. Yoshida, Craybas vs. Tu, Kremer vs. Llagostera Vives, and Morigami vs. Peer.

X-NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Lleyton Hewitt says he is ready to stop bitching about the Australian Open's sticky injury-causing Rebound Ace surface and play some tennis -- maybe: "The Australian Open means more to me than anything else and I'll go out there and compete as hard as possible. I'll still rate my chances as good as anyone's going into it, you know even on this surface. But I just don't think it helps, and it's not just me. I don't think it helps any of the Australian players...I thought I might have had a little bit of pull after being No. 1 in the world for two years and winning a couple of grand slams, but obviously not that much. I'm baffled by the whole thing and I've had a gut-full of it, to tell you the truth"...Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan says his dad will still play a major role even though he has hired former player T.J. Middleton as his coach: "My dad is still my coach. I've always been with my dad, for 10-15 years, since I was a junior. It was my dad who at one point got me to the Top 10, so there is nothing much to say about it. He is a great father, a great coach. A new coach coming in is to get a new experience, new technique. I'm not going to change my style, but just the way he talks, he can prepare me better mentally...Last year was not really great, but I'm really happy as it could have been a lot worse. It was not good like 2002 and 2003, but it is very difficult to maintain that level and defend points. This year I don't have much points to defend, so hopefully I can bring it back to the Top 20 first and then take it back to the Top 10."...Tatiana "Hot Pants" Golovin, who can only play 18 tournaments this year due to the WTA age restrictions, on being ranked in the Top 30: "It's very positive and I'm especially happy that now I'll be seeded at tournaments such as the grand slams so I can play against the best players. When you're ranked outside the Top 100 it's really hard to play the challengers and the qualifiers, so I'm really happy that I got through that area really fast."...Lindsay Davenport has spent 50 total weeks at No. 1, seven behind Serena Williams who is No. 6 on the all-time list...Kim Clijsters has officially pulled from the Australian Open with her chronic wrist injury...After his win Monday in Doha, Roger Federer made the surprise announcement that Tony Roche will work as his coach for 10 weeks during 2005. "It's good to know that there will be help there because I need someone to analyze and help improve my game," Federer said. "I have no clue what I would do (without him). It's a relief that there will be help at times when I want it."...Leander Paes broke down crying upon a visit to the tsunami-wrecked Marina beach near the ATP Chennai site, according to The Star: "Madras was home to me for five years and Marina was the place where we used to train," said an emotional Paes during a visit to the beach where almost 200 people died on Dec. 26. "Early morning jogs four days a week, then all those training sessions, the diving and the lunging on the sands. It boggles the mind that now the same beach, home and a source of livelihood for many, is a devastated place. It really hits you and makes you realize the power of Mother Nature. I will donate whatever money I earn from the Chennai Open to the relief funds for the victims and also contribute in other ways to help them."