Aussie Open Day 1 Schedule; Blake, Ferrer Win Titles

"I'm probably playing again on Rod Laver Arena," Federer said. "I play so well on that court, and with my experience and the way I finished the season and the way I'm coming into this -- I don't see why I should be vulnerable. It's going to be really tough for people to beat me here."

On the women's side, seeds and matches of interest in action Monday are (2) Mauresmo vs. Perry, (27) Santangelo vs. Serena Williams, (10) Vaidisova vs. Craybas, (3) Kuznetsova vs. Moore, (21) Srebotnik vs. Dellacqua, (20) Golovin vs. Smashnova, (5) Petrova vs. Tanasugarn, (7) Dementieva vs. Foretz, (11) Jankovic vs. Wozniak, (23) Sugiyama vs. Arvidsson, (31) Zheng vs. Schruff, (26) Kirilenko vs. Karolina "The Spreminator" Sprem, (14) Schiavone vs. Kloesel, (25) Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues vs. Vesnina, (16) Peer vs. Oprandi, and (18) Bartoli vs. Dushevina.

Sharapova steps into the No. 1 spot after the withdrawal of Justine Henin-Hardenne, who is reportedly going through a divorce.

"I don't see it as putting any extra pressure on me," Sharapova said. "Whatever you are seeded, you've just got to go out and play your matches."

ESPN's coverage of the Aussie Open in the U.S. starts live Sunday night at 7 p.m. (EST).

AROUND THE DIAL
Andy Roddick beat Roger Federer 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the final of the Kooyong Classic exhibition...David Ferrer beat the top-seeded Tommy Robredo in the all-Spanish Auckland final, while James Blake outlasted Carlos Moya in three sets for the Sydney title...Jennifer Capriati looked svelte in making an appearance this week at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, fronting for Sony Ericsson: "It's great to have a sponsor like Sony Ericsson. They're huge, they have all kinds of products, and they're fun. I have a W710i Walkman phone, and I was using the K790i -- it takes great pictures. I've gotten into all of that now. I text a lot too. I wish I could say I've been playing on the tour since they took over; I haven't, but I will be."...From The Australian on the Sydney final: "But even Clijsters had to ask for some peace and quiet during the presentation speeches as the disrespectful Serbian fans continued to chant and cheer. "Can I just have one minute please? I think it's great for the sport this atmosphere. We could have had a soccer ball out there," Clijsters said."...Pat Cash tells SMH to not expect anything great from Lleyton Hewitt at the Australian Open -- or all year: "I think he's going to struggle a bit this year. I hate writing off Lleyton, but I don't think anyone should expect an awful lot from him. He might still be dangerous when he's fully fit and he's had a good six months of hard work under his belt, but he hasn't got any of that. He's played about three matches in five months. He's been injured. Match practice is so important and, as keen as he'll be to do well, I can't really see anything too great happening. If he gets past the fourth round, he'll have done well, but I don't know if he'll even do that."...Jeremy Bates has officially left the British LTA...From SMH: "On Monday they'll be flicking a switch that will pump real time centre court action from the Australian Tennis Open -- ball-by-ball, point-by-point -- into a parallel, virtual universe. IBM, which provides the IT services and technology backbone for Tennis Australia's Grand Slam tournament, has built a three dimensional facsimile of the Melbourne Tennis Centre complex inside a virtual world called Second Life. Over the duration of the two week tournament, data will be fed from games in the real Rod Laver Arena into the unreal one, nano seconds after happens. The feed will come from game-tracking technologies such as the line-calling system HawkEye, PointTracker which plots shots and ball trajectories and Speed Serve which clocks the players' serves. Computers then crunch the numbers to recreate the positioning of the ball inside the virtual stadium. And avatars, 3-D characters representing the players, can simulate strokes made by Roger Federer or Alicia Molik -- or whoever is playing at the time. And spectators inside this computerised world will have not only the pick of the seats (including the match umpire's), but they can choose to watch the action from a player's perspective."