Rios Maintains Perfect Senior Record at Hong Kong

Marcelo Rios claimed sole possession of the No. 1 ranking on the Tennis-X.com Combined Senior Rankings Thursday with an opening round win at the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions senior tour stop in Honk Kong, rolling past Anders Jarryd 6-3, 6-1 in their first-ever meeting.

Coming into the week Rios was tied with Jim Courier, who won the debut event on the Outback Champions Tour.

Rios is a perfect 5-0 in senior tour play without dropping a set in 2006, making his career senior debut with the title at Doha.

Other winners Thursday were Thomas Muster (d. Mark Kratzmann 6-3, 6-4), Cedric Pioline (d. Mark Woodforde 7-6(2), 6-3), and Pat Cash (d. Henri Leconte 6-2, 6-7(4), 10-7).

Scheduled for Friday in Hong Kong are Leconte vs. Kratzmann, Jarryd vs. Woodforde, Pioline vs. Rios, and Cash vs. Muster.

"I am going to try to be more aggressive this time," said Pioline on facing Rios after getting rolled by the Chilean in the Doha final. "Rios is very quick and he makes very few mistakes, so it won't be easy. But I beat Mark Woodforde today and he is pretty quick as well."