This was the first main draw match on the Stadium Court. Chanda Rubin was making a homecoming of sorts. A few months into her professional career a 16-year old Rubin reached her first career final on this very court (losing to Sabine Appelmans). Nine years later, Rubin returned for a first round match versus Cara Black of Zimbabwe. The reward waiting for the winner was an unenviable meeting with Martina Hingis in the second round.

The more experienced Rubin was the heavy favorite and, as an American, the crowd favorite going into the match. Black won the toss but elected to receive for the first game. A chronic foot-faulter, Rubin did not disappoint as her foot crossed the line on her very first service game. Both players would hold their opening service games and Black earned the first break of the match in the third game. However, as so often happens, Rubin earned the break back when Black double faulted the fourth game away.

At this point both the weather and Rubin's game kicked into gear. In the fifth game of the first set, it became very gusty and Rubin decided to start showing off her full-court game. She earned a break point with a tremendous stab volley that led to another break of Black's serve. Her confidence continued into the next game as her serve improved and she easily held for 5-2. Rubin seemed to be ready to take the set winning the first point on Black's serve after a tough 10+ shot rally. However, on the next point Rubin stopped with her racquet after one of Black's shot. Unfortunately, there was no "out" call. Rubin had a nice talk with the chair umpire but relented the point and ultimately the game. Perhaps still thinking about stopping that point, Rubin fell down 15-40 as she served for the set. Rubin would bring the game back to deuce, allow Black on more chance to even the match, but go on to win the set with a pair of forehand winners.

Black served first in the second set in a game that mostly consisted of unforced errors from both players. Black would hold with a passing shot. Rubin made short work of her first service game holding at love. The third game would prove to be the pivotal game of the match. Not unlike, the first game Black would struggle on her serve. She double faulted on game point to bring the game to deuce. From this point, neither player could string together two consecutive points. Black would ultimately have five game points before Rubin, with a forehand winner, earned her first opportunity for a break. In an extended rally, Rubin plugged away at Black's backhand before one of them finally sailed wide. After this strenuous service game, Rubin game Black no time to rest winning her next serve at love and extend her lead to 3-1. Black, perhaps sensing it was time to change-up her game, suddenly decided to come to net after staying back on the baseline for most of the match. This helped her get out of a 0-30 deficit but ultimately did not work out as Rubin passed her twice for a second break.

Black would earn one of the breaks back in the next game as Rubin double-faulted on break point. She would finally have an easy service game to bring the set to 4-3. But Rubin would roll off the next two games, breaking Black with two points at the net. Rubin wins in 1 hour, 12 minutes 6-3, 6-3.

In summary, Rubin simply had more weapons. Her forehand was a consistently strong shot and her serve was on today. Also, Rubin's prowess at the net was a distinguishing factor in this match. Black did not clearly have any shots that could be considered weapons. Black did display a good deal of consistency on her groundstrokes. She would certainly be a dangerous opponent to higher ranked player who is not having a good day or a concentration lapse.

From the buzz of the crowd, this appeared to be the "must see" match of Monday's day session. Needless to say one did not have to wait to the rousing applause that greeted the appearance of Davenport and Kournikova, to figure out the reason why. The professional and amateur photographers alike flocked to click away at the #2 ranked tennis player. The frenzy may have been over the news today that Kournikova is engaged to NHL hockey player, Pavel Bure, but somehow I do not think anything matters when it comes to this Russian.

One sensed that Davenport/Kournikova would be a formidable pairing, but of course their opponents are no slouches on the court either. However, "slouches" might have been a good description for Schett/Po as they quickly lost the first set 6-1 in a mere 25 minutes. The crowd could not be swayed away from this blowout, though. I took a quick glance at the Grandstand Court during this match and thought that all matches had been completed. I was wrong as I saw Raymond and Sugiyama return to the court after a changeover. This first round singles match between the #22 and #27 ranked players was being watched by twelve people. Yes, I said twelve spectators and I believe that included Sugiyama's mother!

Back on the Stadium Court, the second set would be no better to the first. Schett/Po quickly fell behind 4-0 with Davenport dominating on her service games. Po, raising her arms in victory, would get their team on the board with a service hold at 4-1. Schett/Po started to successfully pick on Kournikova a bit as Davenport was proving to be too dangerous in the shot-making department. Schett/Po would earn their only break of the match on Kournikova's serve in the sixth game of the match. Davenport would serve out the match at love for an easy 6-1, 6-2 victory. Perhaps Davenport was worried about missing her scheduled appearance at a local Maytag store at 6:00pm that evening!

This match featured two of the three wildcards of the tournament. Only one would be left standing, after Black's loss earlier in the day. Lucic and Shaughnessy were on over the weekend to conduct the draw. Ironically, they picked each other for the first round. Shaughnessy, a Scottsdale resident and the only player on the WTA Tour hailing from Arizona, was obviously the crowd favorite. Just in case, Shaughnessy brought her cheering section as well.

My guess was that this match was either Lucic's to win or lose. Shaughnessy is a steady baseliner, but it is Lucic's power game that would be the deciding factor. Lucic came into Scottsdale with a 0-2 record for the year. Both players are listed at the same height and weight (5'11" and 140) but Lucic has clearly bulked up recently (as well as dying her hair platinum blonde). Lucic served first and won the first game in impressive fashion. She went and had two break points in Shaughnessy's opening game. However, Shaughnessy showed that she could serve as well, holding her serve with an ace. Then, Lucic quickly fell apart double faulting twice to give Shaugnessy a break in the third game.

On this changeover, Lucic called for the trainer. It appears that blisters were the problem and the injury time-out was spent furiously taping up Lucic's foot. Recalling Rippner's previous meltdown after her foot problem yesterday, I feared this match would soon be over. But perhaps the time-out was enough to ruin Shaughnessy's momentum as she double faulted and allowed Lucic to even the match. The next several games are hard to characterize. Both ladies held their serves, but as expected the match was being dictated by Lucic's ability to connect on her groundstrokes. When she was keeping the ball in the court, Lucic was a tough opponent, but fortunately for Shaughnessy the Croatian simply was not doing that enough. An unforced error would give Shaughnessy a break in the 9^th game of the match. Shaughnessy would fall behind serving for the set, but another Lucic error gave Shaughnessy the first set at 6-4.

The second set was almost an exact duplicate of the first. The players would exchange breaks early in the set and a Lucic unforced error allowed Shaughnessy to break at 5-4. Spurred on by the cheers of the crowd, Shaughnessy quickly put away the next game to win the match 6-4, 6-4. Shaughnessy was clearly thrilled to win her first match in her hometown and likewise notch one of the biggest wins in her career. Her second round opponent will be winner of the Conchita Martinez/Nathalie Dechy match to be played on Tuesday.

The first night match of the tournament featured the former and current phenoms. Capriati, now considered a veteran at 23, met the 1999 Wimbledon sensation Stevenson. With the sun down, there was definitely a chill in the air. For the first game of the match, Capriati kept her warm-up jacket on while Stevenson played with a long-sleeved white T-shirt. However, during the first changeover both players would strip to their tennis dresses -- Capriati to a sleeveless tennis dress, Stevenson to her growing signature spaghetti strap number.

The first several games were not quality tennis. My "unofficial" notes showed that between the two players 15 unforced errors were committed to just 2 winners. Both players were predominantly hitting long with Capriati's forehand and both sides of Stevenson's being the culprit. Capriati and Stevenson are both known for their hard hitting and they certainly displayed it from the very first point. The players seemed well suited to each other, well at least for the first six games. With the first set knotted at 3-3, Capriati would break Stevenson's serve at love and from that point there was no turning back. Stevenson would not win another game.

Not unlike Lucic, Stevenson was quite impressive when she was able to connect with her groundstrokes. Likewise, Stevenson showed some nice net play. However, one thing that Stevenson's game clearly lacked was patience. Fortunately for Stevenson she realizes that as she echoed it various times in her sometimes sullen post-match press conference. Stevenson's serve would also abandon her, most noticeably losing the final game of the match at love. While Stevenson clearly self-destructed, Capriati should be credited with playing a smart match. Additionally, her game improved as the match progressed, hitting a fair amount of winners (though not quite the number of Stevenson's errors).

In a post-match press conference, Capriati stated she "hasn't been practicing well" and expected her game to "be rustier" after nearly a month off. She credited her coach Harold Solomon for helping the mental aspect of her game and developing strategies prior to going into a match. Clearly this is not the "whack the balls as hard as you can" Capriati of previous years, but a newer, more mature incarnation. Stevenson even noted the parallel and stated that Capriati's comeback would be a good on-court role model for herself. Capriati readily admitted she "had no major goals" for this year and somewhat surprisingly added "not to win a Grand Slam or anything." However, before questioning Capriati's motivation she did say that she thinks she can return to the top 10 soon. She will have a great opportunity to test that out in the second round as she faces Lindsay Davenport, a rematch of this year's Australian Open semifinal.