Cash Stumps to Coach Murray; Serena Done for 2006?

Other seeded winners Monday were (3) David Nalbandian (d. Malisse), (7) Gaston Gaudio (d. Henman), (9) Nicolas Kiefer (d. Mirnyi 7-6 in the third), (10) Radek Stepanek (d. (Q) Korolev), (11) Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Tursunov), and (15) Tommy Robredo (d. Horna).

In the lone upset on the day, Belgian Kristof Vliegen rebounded from a first-set thrashing to oust (14) Jarkko Nieminen 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).

Unseeded winners into the second round were Spaniard Al Martin (d. Karlovic), Argentines Juan Ignacio Chela (d. Rusedski 6-1 in the third) and Jose Acasuso (d. Volandri), Italians Andreas Seppi (d. Sanguinetti from a set down) and qualifier Alessio Di Mauro (d. Wawrinka), Belgian Olivier Rochus (d. Monfils from a set down), French wildcard Michael Llodra (d. Pashanski, bagel in the second), and Czech qualifier Jan Hernych (d. (WC) Benneteau 7-6 in the third).

"Once they watered that court in between, it got really slow out there," Rusedski told reporters after losing 6-1 in the third to Chela. "The first two sets we're playing on a little slippery court and I'm managing to at least stick in the rallies and being able to play a few balls behind him. But then once they watered that court for the third set, it kind of made life a little bit tough because it just gave him that fraction longer and it got a little cooler out there."

Doubles winners Monday were Bhupathi/Stepanek (d. Chileans Gonzalez/Massu in three), Frenchman (WC) Clement/Llodra (d. Spaniards Ferrer/Robredo), and Argentines Acasuso/Prieto (d. Hrbaty/Suk).

Highlights in Tuesday's play are Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro vs. (16) Tomas Berdych, Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. former No. 1 Marat Safin, Arnaud Clement vs. world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, former French runner-up (6) Guillermo Coria vs. Mikhail Youzhny, struggling Brit Andy Murray vs. (WC) Jean-Rene Lisnard, former No. 1 Carlos Moya vs. (12) Fernando Gonzalez, Olympic champ Nicolas Massu vs. (8) David Ferrer, and (4) Ivan Ljubicic vs. Russian dirtballer Igor Andreev.

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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
From Steve Bierley writing for The Guardian: "Serena Williams, the seven-time grand slam champion who has been out of action since losing in the Australian Open third round in January, is expected to announce shortly that she will not play any more tennis this year."...Pat Cash and his ego putting out a job classified in The Sunday Times: "Perhaps it's the splash of Celtic blood that flows through my veins, but I can identify with Andy Murray. Almost a quarter of a century ago I was the teenage kid with a rebellious streak who was tipped for stardom and became the nation's top player at a young age. I was not comfortable with the pressures of expectation and ultimately felt more at ease away from home and came to view the examination of the media as something to loathe. However, there was one crucial difference between Murray and the Pat Cash who graduated from becoming the world's best junior to playing a key role in a Davis Cup final and winning titles on the main tour. I was fortunate enough to have almost a second father in my coach Ian Barclay and a committed uncle in Australian captain Neale Fraser. Right now, Murray looks a kid very much on his own. My experiences with Mark Philippoussis and Greg Rusedski convinced me that I never wanted to take up a coaching job again, but I admit that I would have to think twice if the opportunity to work with Murray presented itself."...Former ATP pro and Boris Becker coach Mike DePalmer on Andy Roddick, speaking with the Knoxville News Sentinel: "The biggest mistake he made was getting rid of Brad Gilbert. He can't just muscle guys around the court. You have to know how to exploit weaknesses, when to come into the net, when to cover, how to cover, what type shot to expect back. Those are the things missing in Roddick's game."...Rafael Nadal has won 36 consecutive claycourt matches...How much does Monte struggle with getting the top players? This is the first year since 1980 that all Top 3 players are playing the event...Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal have won the last 10 Masters Series events they have competed in together...Guillermo Coria is looking to reach his fourth consecutive Monte Carlo final...Mardy Fish rose 91 spots to No. 121 with the Houston title...From the ATP: "Thomas Johansson has started to practice tennis this week and is helping Jonas Bjorkman with some coaching in Monte Carlo. The Swede still cannot see clearly with his left eye, but is making progress and hopes to return in either Rome or Hamburg."...K-Swiss has signed 19-year-old Phillip Simmonds as its first athlete endorser in four years...From the ATP: "As a part of the ATP doubles revolution, Spaniards Ivan Navarro-Pastor and Daniel Gimeno-Traver designed a graffiti together with a local artist and the top seeded Argentine doubles pair Martin Garcia and Sebastien Prieto." -- Yikes, seems like the "doubles revolution" is losing steam...James Blake rises to a career-high No. 7 on the ATP Rankings as dirtballers Gaston Gaudio and Guillermo Coria tumble past him after losing dirt points...Paul Goldstein is the top seed this week at the Bermuda Challenger, a field also containing Mardy Fish and Mark Philippoussis...More from Mark Petchey, speaking to The Telegraph on getting canned as the coach of Andy Murray: "All I can say is we were talking a lot this year about his best way to play and perform consistently against the best players in the world so he could reach the Top 10 as quickly as possible. I felt that we made a lot of progress in the nine months we'd been together and I thought the process would take another year until he was playing his best tennis consistently. In relationships like this there are bound to be differences of opinion at some stage and it's Andy's prerogative to find someone who sees it the way he does, not just strategically but in all the elements that end up making a great player." -- Real politically correct, you've got to hand it to Petchey...Greg Rusedski says heavier balls are making it difficult to serve and volley these days, even on hardcourts: "Now week in, week out, it's almost impossible to play that game even on the hard courts and indoor courts which is, for me, quite a thing where I have to kind of thinking about the future and other things because I'm just so surprised how it just keeps on getting slower year after year after year. I guess I'm not the only one who's feeling that with these balls we're playing with. A lot of guys are having shoulder problems or wrist problems, and it's very hard to generate anything and it's more of a baseline style."...Tim Henman on his ranking being possibly too low to get into Rome and Hamburg: "I'll have to wait and see what happens with Rome. You know, there's a chance I might get in, but I'm not sort of overly concerned. I'll keep doing the work and see which opportunities I get in that time period and take it from there. Definitely, definitely eager to play. If there could be a couple of guys pull out along with (Andre) Agassi and perhaps (Lleyton) Hewitt, (Thomas) Johansson, I'll be watching."...Novak Djokovic on the fear factor of Roger Federer: "He plays -- he's just one of the best players ever in tennis history, that's for sure. Everybody knows that. The problem is that -- why he's so good on all kind of surfaces is that every time before the match everybody goes -- he goes to every match with already a winner, you know? Because everybody is getting scared, 'Oh, he's Roger Federer,' you know. 'I cannot win against him,' you know. 'He's perfect. I have to play something that I am not playing, something over my maximum, my limits.' That's how he already wins, you know."...The rusty Alicia Molik has been left off the Aussie Fed Cup team.