The rains have stopped in Scottsdale finally! The winter storm that knocked out the State Farm Women's Classic's final matches also set back the first day of the Franklin Templeton Classic on Monday. Today was still a dank day with temperatures hovering in the mid 40's for a good part of the morning and throughout the day. In an ambitious move, the men's tournament scheduled 14 matches, including four final round qualifying matches, on Tuesday to make up for the lost day. However, drying the main courts continued to be a problem. With matches scheduled to begin at 9am local time, the first ball was not struck on the Stadium Court until nearly 1:30pm. By noon, a decision was made to cancel the fourth match scheduled on each court. Andre Agassi's first round match versus a qualifier originally set for Monday will now be played on Wednesday.

Without any practice time, the players were anxious to get out on the courts. Once courts were partially dried, one court saw action from Patrick Rafter, Greg Rusedski, and Lleyton Hewitt. With the air still so cold you could see his breath, Tim Henman practiced on the Stadium Court in just a t-shirt and sweats. Echoes of my mom saying, "You're going to catch a cold" continuously looped through my head as I watched the Brit "warm-up."

Since there was finally some tennis played today let's get to it.

The multi-layered crowd was anxious to watch some tennis. Where frozen yogurt was the popular food choice during most of last week, hot cocoa and cups of chili were the fan favorites today. This first match was an interesting battle. Ferreira was in a unique position of having to qualify for a tournament. On the other hand, his opponent's career has been largely made up of qualifying round. While Bryan, ranked as high as #179, has yet to distinguish himself in singles, he is part of an interesting doubles story on the ATP Tour. Bob Bryan has a twin brother Mike and together they have had moderate success as doubles team defeating the likes of Woodbridge/Woodforde and a doubles ranking as high as #60.

At 6'3" Bryan is an imposing figure at the net and he used that to his advantage from the start of the match. Bryan hit a volley winner to close out his second service game to hold for 2-1. Early in the match it was evident that this would also be a battle of forehands. Ferreira's forehand produced quite a number of winners in the first three games. In the fourth game, Ferreira double faulted to go down 0-30. Two unforced errors by Bryan evened the game, but a Ferreira lob gave Bryan on easy overhead for the first break point of the match. Bryan broke on the next point when a Ferreira forehand landed in the net. Bryan clearly favored his forehand, often running around his backhand in the next game. The break was consolidated with Bryan leading 4-1. During the sixth game, the crowd finally got what it was waiting for and it had nothing to do with tennis. The clouds cleared and the sun made its first appearance in three days nearly sending the audience to spontaneously applaud and in the middle of a point no less! Ferreira must have been really thrown off by the change in the weather. He also made two errors to give Bryan his second service break of the match. Bryan easily held his next service game, serving a 122mph ace to close out the set 6-1 in 24 minutes.

Ferreira started off sluggish in the second set as well. His second service game was particularly tough, but the South African held saving two break points for 2-1. Both players held their serves for the next several games. Bryan had a particularly easy service game for 2-2 consisting of mostly service winners, while Ferreira served two aces in to keep the match on serve at 4-3. Ferreira's experience eventually prevailed as he broke Bryan's serve for the second set at 6-4.

Going into the final set, one thought that Bryan might go away quickly after giving the #1 qualifying seed a good run. That was not the case, the American definitely had some youthful exuberance on his side. Bryan hit away at forehands and came to net whenever he had a good opportunity. Meanwhile, Ferreira settled down with his own game, reducing his unforced errors and getting to know the Bryan game a bit better. Ferreira had a chance to break Bryan in the eight game of the set but Bryan held for 4-4 with a 101mph service winner. In the latter stages of the set, Ferreira's serve was particularly on; getting some free points on aces each game. At 5-6, a loose service game, that included two Bryan errors and two Ferreira passing shots, ended the American's chance of advancing into the main draw. Ferreira won the match in 1 hour, 39 minutes -- 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

One did not know what to expect from this match. The match appeared ripe for an upset as Rios, the #3 seed, has seen little match play since his return to the Tour following surgery. Rios won the toss and chose to receive. Spadea, perhaps in tribute to his opponent, sported a ponytail today. The only problem was that, unlike Rios, the American's only bunched out to an inch or so under his baseball cap.

The first several games were a general mess. Unforced errors ruled the day, in the first game alone Rios hit four to Spadea's three. This was enough for the first service hold of the match. While the Chilean mildly cleaned up his game, Spadea still could not find the court. A total of five unforced errors, including three in his second service game gave Rios the first break of the match at 2-1. Spadea had a chance to immediately break back in the next game but was foiled by two Rios service winners and a forehand volley winner for a Rios hold at 3-1. Spadea's troubles continued in the seventh game. Two forehand errors and one backhand error sent the American down 15-40. A crosscourt forehand winner by Rios gave him the second break of the set for 5-2. Serving for the set, Rios started auspiciously with a double fault. A second double gave Spadea a 15-30 advantage. In one of the few extended rallies of the match, Spadea moved Rios around the court obviously testing the Chilean's mobility. Spadea won the battle, earning a service break back, but eventually lost the set in 28 minutes at 6-4.

Rios earned a break of serve immediately to start the second set. Rios started a game plan of pounding away at Spadea's backhand then throwing in a shot to his forehand and coming up with an error. A second break of Spadea's serve occurred in the third game. On break point, Rios all of a sudden started grunting with each shot and his effort paid off for a 3-0 lead. Not unlike the first set, Rios had a little trouble closing out the set. At 5-1, Rios gave Spadea an easy hold thanks to three unforced errors. Rios's sloppy play continued into his next service game allowing the American to get one of the breaks back for 5-3. In what would ultimately be the final game of the match, Rios had a tough service game and allowed Spadea one break chance to even the set. After three deuces, Rios won the match as a Spadea forehand return floated wide. The 6-4, 6-4 match took 1 hour, 6 minutes.

While pleased to get past the first round, Rios can not much satisfaction from this match that was largely handed to him due to Spadea's unforced error tally. Despite the cool temperature, Rios was moving well and showed no ill effects from his abductor surgery in November. Rios faces Spaniard Alberto Martin in the next round.

Not unlike Rios, Patrick Rafter found himself coming back from an extended period off the tour and facing a tricky opponent in the first round. Ferrero is definitely one of the young players to watch today. He made the biggest ranking jump into the Top 50 last year rising 302 spots to #43 and reached the finals of Dubai this year. He is currently tied for #21 in the ATP "race" rankings.

Ferrero won the coin toss and, like Rios, elected to receive. This ended up being a good strategy as Rafter quickly got into a 0-40 hole on his serve. The Australian fought back to deuce but two Ferrero passing shots earned the Spaniard the break. Rafter immediately broke back on two wide unforced errors by Ferrero. Rafter would not be the first to hold serve, as in the next game despite throwing in a 99mph ace he would double fault to give Ferrero another service break. Three Rafter unforced errors, including a very long forehand on game point, did give Ferrero the first hold of the match for 3-1.

Both players would hold serve over the next several games. Rafter executed his serve-and-volley game on nearly every point of his service games. Rafter started to earn more volley winners as the set progressed, but the young Spaniard showed considerable skill in getting to Rafter's shots and passing him on a fairly consistent basis. Ferrero maintained his one break lead and won the first set at 6-4 in 38 minutes. The last point of the set was a particularly spectacular one for Ferrero. Rafter moved Ferrero all around the court eventually drop shotted him, the Spaniard scrambled and got to it, Rafter put up a lob, Ferrero scrambled back to it and hit a forehand winner down the line for the set.

The second set was even a quicker affair. The players held their opening service games, with Ferrero breaking Rafter in the third game. As it was in the first set, Ferrero showed considerable skill in his ability to pass Rafter at the net. Two passes gave Ferrero a 2-1 second set lead. Rafter's next service game was not any better. A forehand passing shot gave Ferrero his second break of the match but in this game he was also aided by two missed volleys by Rafter. With a two break advantage, the match was pretty much over. Ferrero went on to win the match and earn one the biggest career victories, 6-4, 6-2.

Like Rios, Rafter did not seem to be dogged by any of the physical problems that has kept him off the Tour for such a long time. Today, the Australian was simply outplayed by a trickier and younger opponent. Rafter's serve-and-volley timing may have been a bit off today as well. One would think this type of game will take a little longer to get back in shape than say for a baseliner like Rios. Likewise, Rafter has never excelled early in the season. Last year at the Franklin Templeton, he was similarly dusted off the court by a young qualifier by the name of Lleyton Hewitt. Ferrero faces the winner of Moya/Zabaleta in the next round.