Pierce, Guga Make Their Mark on the Dirt to Open Claycourt Season

Seeded winners of the day were No. 4 Chilean Fernando Gonzalez (d. Phau) and No. 7-seeded Russian Igor Andreev (d. (WC) Vicente).

Un-seeds advancing into the second round were Austrian Stefan Koubek (d. (WC) Matos Gil) attempting to find his form after a drug suspension, and Georgia's Irakli Labadze (d. Karlovic).

On the dirt Tuesday in Valencia are (WC) Corretja vs. (Q) Luzzi, (1) Davydenko vs. Costa, (Q) Michael "Yogi" Berrer vs. (6) Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco, Julien "United Colors of" Benneteau vs. (5) Ferrer, Mantilla vs. O.Hernandez in an all-Spanish, Montanes vs. A.Martin in an all-Spanish, Kohlschreiber vs. Garcia-Lopez, "You Say" Potito Starace vs. Calatrava, Dupuis vs. (Q) Djokovic, and (8) Carlsen vs. (Q) Navarro Pastor.

Top-seeded Schuettler Shuttled Out at ATP Casablanca

Top-seeded Rainer Schuettler was bundled out in the first round in convincing fashion Monday at the ATP claycourt stop in Casablanca, pounded 6-2, 6-2 by unheralded Czech Tomas Zib.

Schuettler has been on a steady decline since his breakthrough year in 2003 when he finished in the Top 8, reaching the final of the Australian Open.

Seeded winners Monday at Casablanca were No. 7 Gilles Muller (d. Lisnard) and No. 8 Christophe Rochus (d. (WC) Tahiri).

Unseeded winners into the second round were Spain's Nicolas Almagro (d. Burgsmuller) and Fin Jarkko Nieminen (d. Hanescu).

The final round of qualifying was also completed, with four more added to the main draw in Frenchmen Ascione, Simon, and Gicquel, and the Slovak Mertinak.

On the dirt Tuesday in Casablanca are (4) Fabrice "The Original Wizard" Santoro vs. Vanek, (WC) Younes "From Tunis" El Aynaoui vs. (2) Volandri, Ventura vs. (WC) Arazi, Clement vs. (3) Luis "Me So" Horna, Ulihrach vs. (5) Florian "Oscar" Mayer, Tipsarevic vs. Olivier "Mucus" Mutis, Sanguinetti vs. Juan "The Principality" Monaco, (Q) Simon vs. Acasuso, (6) Puerta vs. Behrend, (Q) Gicquel vs. (Q) Mertinak, and (Q) Ascione vs. Sanchez.

Pierce Shows Rejuvenated Look at WTA Amelia Island

No. 14 seed Mary Pierce, over the shoulder injury that sidelined her at the end of 2004, displayed her power claycourt game in a 6-3, 6-0 pounding of Czech teen wildcard Daja Bedanova in 46 minutes Monday night at the WTA stop in Indian Wells.

Pierce resembled a swimsuit model with an extra 20 pounds of muscle against the wiry, under-powered Bedanova, with Pierce afterwards saying she is enjoying her claycourt tennis more than ever after skipping the event in Miami to practice on the dirt.

The perpetually-worried look Pierce normally plays with was frequently broken by smiles after aggressive net forays against the overmatched Bedanova, with occasional mock-surprise looks of astonishment for the benefit of the crowd while serving up a bagel with some sterling play in the second set.

"I felt really good. Court was playing nice, very happy with the way I felt on the court and all around," Pierce said. "I'm having a lot of fun on the court and just enjoying it. I've been training two weeks on clay, I didn't play Miami.

Other seeded winners Monday were (11) Jelena Jankovic (d. Douchevina), (13) Ai Sugiyama (d. Sanchez Lorenzo), (15) Shinobu Asagoe (d. Washington in three), and (16) Amy Frazier (d. Jidkova).

Unseeded winners on the day were Madagaskar's Dally Randriantefy (d. Marrero), Czechs Denisa Chladkova (d. (WC) Pratt) and Barbora Strycova (d. (Q) Bondarenko in three), France's Virginie Razzano (d. Loit, who retired with a wrist injury), Spains' Anabel Medina Garrigues (d. Linetskaya in three), Slovak Martina Sucha (d. Vento-Kabchi), Puerto Rican qualifier Kristina Brandi (d. Camerin 1-and-0), Greek wildcard Eleni Daniilidou (d. Kostanic), Argentine Gisela Dulko (d. Srebotnik), Israeli wildcard Shahar Peer (d. Stosur), and former French runner-up Conchita Martinez (d. (Q) Irvin, stretched to a first-set breaker).

"I was not moving too well and the first match on clay," Martinez said. "I was just off today...She has a great serve, she has a good kick, she is aggressive."

Elena Dementieva pulled from the event with the du-jour injury of top players these days, a hip problem.

"I'm very sad not to be playing the Bausch & Lomb Championships this year, but unfortunately my hip doesn't feel good after the two tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami," Dementieva said in a statement. "Amelia Island is a place I always enjoy coming back to, especially since I won my first title there in 2003."

On tap Tuesday on the dirt are Peng vs. Shaughnessy, Sprem vs. Ruano Pascual, Sucha vs. Venus, Davenport vs. Brandi in the night feature, Garbin vs. Farina Elia, Groenefeld vs. Maleeva, Raymond vs. Obziler, Domachowska vs. Morigami, Smashnova vs. Likhovtseva, Sugiyama vs. Strycova, and Castano vs. Peschke.

X-CORRECT
The CBS commentary team for their Miami coverage last week was Bill Macatee and Mary Carillo.

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