In the first match of the day, Tathiana Garbin and Katalin Marosi would play in their first show court for the tournament against Nana Miyagi and Debbie Graham, another giant-killing pair who had taken out the fifth seeds, Irina Spirlea and Caroline Vis, in a rain-delayed match.

Graham and Miyagi won the toss, and elected to serve. Debbie has a good serve, with quite a bit of pace and which swings out wide. She served two aces in her opening game, but also got a double-fault in the mix. She held serve, and for once, Katalin would serve first for her team. This was actually a good idea, as Tathiana was very comfortable playing in the "I" formation, and put a lot of pressure on the opposing team. Tathiana was still playing very aggressively at net, standing near the middle of the court half the time, and this actually worked very well for them when Katalin got a decent serve in.

Nana went up for serve, and nearly got in trouble when she popped a weak block up. 2 feet away from the net, Katalin Marosi, standing at 5'10", actually defied the laws of Physics by netting the easy overhead. She made up for it, though, by smacking a cross-court service return winner on the next point. Katalin was getting some good returns in, but Tathiana's continued woes with her service returns kept the break at bay.

Katalin still had a little trouble with her first serve percentage, but good net play from Tathiana kept things going. On the other hand, the Italian would sometimes get a little over-anxious, and get caught poaching with a winner down the alley. Debbie Graham continued to serve well, and Nana Miyagi was handy all over the court, coming up with spectacular shots at times.

The first set went into a tie-beak, and Debbie had the honour of serving first. Unfortunately for her, her serve was broken immediately. Katalin was up next, and good serving for once combined with Garbin's presence at the net gave her both points. The umpteenth service return error from Tathiana gave Debs and Nana their first point in the tie-break. The next point saw all four players at net, with Katalin approaching net on her return, but she netted it, bringing it to 3-2, Garbin to serve. As usual, she had little trouble holding serve, and that took it to 5-2. Katalin earned the next point for her team with a marvelous reflex volley off a cracking shot hit at her by Debbie from about 1.5 metres away, and Tathiana got an easy overhead winner on the next point to take the first set 7-2 in the tie-breaker.

Katalin served to open the second set, and I left after the first three points for a couple of minutes. When I got back, I found that Katalin had lost serve, and Debbie had managed to consolidate the break. For the first time, Tathiana found herself in trouble on her service game, and gave DG/NM break opportunity when she dumped an overhead into the net. Attempting to save themselves from another break, Tathiana came in to net at the first opportunity, and with both her and Katalin up at net, they managed to save the break point. Two good serves gave the Italian her service game.

They soon found themselves down 1-4 and 2 breaks, however, with Debbie up to serve. Survival instinct kicked in, and a sudden rush of adrenaline drove the pair to get some better returns in, and they took Deb's service game to get one break back. Tathiana served next, and with Katalin doing a heckuva job at net, they dropped only 2 points in the last 2 games. They found a new lease on the second set, and before they could carry their momentum any further, Debbie took a well-timed bathroom break. When she got back, Nana Miyagi went up to serve and promptly lost the game. The score was now 5-4, and Debbie would have the task of serving to keep her team in the match.

Here's where things started to go wrong for Tathiana and Katalin all of a sudden. Nana Miyagi suddenly started to play fantastic tennis, and nothing seemed to go wrong for her. Between Tathiana's ever-present service return errors and a sudden drop in her first serve percentage; streaky play from Katalin, good serving from Debbie and Nana Miyagi developing the golden touch, the Hungarian/Italian pair found themselves losing hold of the match. Not only did they lose hold of the match, they failed to take a single game more in the entire match, and after coming so close to a quarterfinal appearance, lost it 6-7(2) 7-5 6-0.

If you're looking for the little rich kid pushed all the way by mommy and daddy, then Tathiana Garbin is not the player for you. She started playing tennis at about 3 when her parents took her along on one of their regular tennis sessions. She only turned pro at about 19 years old, which is a very late start by today's standards, because she had to come up with enough money by playing local tournaments before being able to afford to travel around the world. Her ranking has steadily climbed over the years, and last year, she reached her career high of 107. Her ranking has since dropped, largely due to her taking time off to heal an injury, and as luck would have it, she would have to miss defending her title from 1998. She bounced back up the rankings at the end of the year, however, by taking the title in Manila and making a final appearance in New Delhi before retiring due to an injury. Back on the edge of the top 100, this year will give her an opportunity to play more WTA (oops, forgot the Sanex in front of that) events, and hopefully will see her reach a new career high this year.

On court, the Italian is so full of energy it's incredible. She really worked on her fitness last year, and has made a remarkable improvement in that department. The second thing you'll notice about her is the way she's always running all over the court. The first is the way she always has a smile near by. Asked if she has a certain target or goal for the 2000 season, she is hesitant to reply, unsure of how to phrase the answer. She doesn't appear very confident in her English, but that's totally unfounded as she speaks pretty well, although she gets stuck on a couple of words. Finally, a smile breaks across her face, like the sun coming up over the horizon, and she gets a twinkle in her eye. "To have fun" is the answer. Her motto: if you're having fun on court, you play good tennis. I'm behind that 100%. I wouldn't mind having a week of fun and earning a cool $21,500. She remains on my list of Ones to Watch for the 2000 season.

In Rod Laver Arena, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario was taking on Barbara Schett. Barbara, seeded 6th and ranked 9th coming in to the tournament, was the favourite on paper against Aranxta, seeded 13 and ranked 15. In many people's minds, though, Arantxa would have to be the favourite in the match. After having a horrible year last year, Arantxa was rumoured to be planning on retiring soon. That was far from the truth, however, as Arantxa had worked hard throughout her break, and had decided that she wasn't washed up just yet.

Arantxa against Barbara in this match was like a diesel engine and a petrol engine. Arantxa, the diesel engine, took a while to get going, but when she did, she easily overtook Barbara, the petrol engine. Babsi had come out blasting, taking full advantage of her opportunity, and the crowd, who had expected a good match, was disappointed to see a long-time favourite drop the first set so easily.

In the stillness of the Rod Laver Arena, under the closed roof, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, with her trademark dogged determination, turned things around in a hurry. She got every ball back, frustrating the Austrian, and it was inevitable that Babsi would make the first mistake. At the other end, Barbara was playing Arantxa's game. She was hitting her shots relatively flat and deep, right in Arantxa's striking zone. Arantxa took the second set 6-0 before an increasingly interested crowd.

After being taught a hard lesson in the second set, Barbara made a couple of adjustments to her game. She put more spin on her shots, and instead of hitting deep all the time, went for more angle. She also started to mix up the pace a little, throwing in an off-pace shot every now and then. She was expecting Arantxa's drop shot at any time, and got to most of them. The third set opened with both players finding it easier to break serve than to hold, and the crowd sat with baited breath to see who would manage to hold serve first.

This match signified the best and the worst of women's tennis. It showcased the new and the old (no offence meant to anyone, especially Arantxa), the way the "exciting" new faces were blasting their way to the top and how the "old guard" was coming back to put them in place. It also featured many dreary baseline rallies, both players just getting the ball back to the other. A lot of the time, the crowd actually started to laugh quietly when a rally lasted for an especially long time. They were appreciative of the value they got for their money, though, and when Arantxa finally took the match, an exhausting 1-6 6-0 7-5 victory, both players got a standing ovation.

I might have chosen the wrong match to go to, though, because over on court one, Elena Likhovtseva was on her way to adding another big win to her career. She had taken the first set 6-3 after being down a break at 3-1, and Serena Williams was making a ton of errors. Elena worked on getting the balls back, and patiently waited for the American to make another error. Up 5-3, Elena looked as calm as ever, serving with 2 match points. She played nervously, though, as Serena refused to go away easily. Serena saved the first match point, and looked a little more hopeful on court. Elena played another nervous point, and lost her second match point. It looked like Serena might make a little comeback here, but Elena took a deep breath, and took the next two points for her best Grand Slam performance in her career, topping her 4 fourth-round appearances in past years, one as recently as the 1999 U.S Open. Letting out a scream of joy (or maybe relief that she didn't let this one slip away), Elena shook the hand of a dejected Serena Williams.

Serena, however, displayed her trademark frankness and made no excuses in the interview room. Serena curtly refuted any suggestions that this was the result of her not playing a single warm-up tournament before the Open. One of the media members was put in his place, however, when he asked if it would have helped if her coach (referring to Richard Williams) had been here. Tired of having answered the question over and over again, and probably annoyed that she'd have such questions thrown at her after her loss, she said that she had already answered the question a gazillion times, didn't know any other way to phrase the standard answer, and offered to explain it in a different language. At another point in her interview, being asked another silly question, she simply advised the reporter to review the questions that had already been asked, and their answers. In one of the lighter moments, though, she said that she was going to punish herself by finishing her homework: 38 drawings by the very next day.

I had a choice between the Dokic-Capriati/Callens-Van Roost and the Kournikova-Schett/Schnyder-Jeyaseelan matches, and opted to catch Patty Schnyder and Anna Kournikova on court. Barbara Schett had only just finished her match against Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, and I was curious to see what effect the match had had on her.

Patty Schnyder served to open the match, and I was glad to see that she was actually moving and swinging her racquet on court. Barbara was still making a number of unforced errors as she had done at the end of her singles match, but wasn't doing too badly. Anna was trying to make up for her partner, and did a pretty good job of it, covering her partner but not so much that she jeopardized her position on court. As the match progressed, it became more and more apparent that the only reason Patty Schnyder was keeping herself in the game was to have the opportunity to knock Anna's head off at the net. More often than not, she'd swing her racquet as hard as she could at the ball, and went right for Anna. Sonya was playing well, keeping her errors down, and seemed to just be having a good time on court.

The end score was 6-2 6-2, but the match was more exciting than the score let up. There was a number of good rallies, and there was certainly enough eye candy on the court to keep the crowd excited. One thing I will definitely remember about this match, though, is the third game, where Sonya was having a difficult service game, and the players played at least 11 deuces. By the time the match got to 4-1 in the second set, Patty looked like she'd given up, and carelessly swung at the ball. She did manage to hit Barbara with a volley at net, though. With Babsi finally getting some good shots in the match, there was little that Sonya could do on her service game, and she faced 2 match points. She saved the first one with a good serve to keep Anna back, followed by a beautiful drop shot that barely cleared the net. She couldn't save the second one, though, and a backhand went way long, giving the Anna and Babsi fans their long-awaited opportunity to get their autographs.

Fortunately, the Dokic-Capriati/Van Roost-Callens match had been slightly delayed, and, thanks to the half-hearted attempt by Patty Schnyder, I managed to catch that match as well. At the start of the match, Dominique utilized their experience against the fresh team of Dokic and Capriati. Jelena was making mistakes from the baseline, while Jennifer was simply making mistakes from all over the court. Part of the reason was that Jelena was camped out at the back of the court whenever possible.

Slowly, though, the errors started creeping off of Dominique's racquet. The Belgian pair held on to the break that they got at the beginning of the set, and took the first set 6-4. The second set was a different matter. With Jelena still camped out at the baseline, Jennifer had plenty of opportunity to work on her volleys. This made for the most and longest baseline rallies I have ever seen in a doubles match between Dominique and Jelena. Jelena, however, was starting to become steadier, and Dominique found herself making the first mistakes. Els and Jen basically stood at the net, watching the other two slug it out in a cross-court battle, not daring to poach in case either went for the down-the-line winner.

While Els had been the solid one at net, Jennifer started the match having trouble with her volleys. As the match progressed, though, Jennifer was getting amazing shots across the net. She even got a number of that were hit at her feet while she was in the midst of retreating to the baseline and facing backwards in defense, before they hit the ground. With Dominique and Els starting to make an appalling number of errors, the youngsters found hope, and took the second set to a tie-break.

The tie-break could have been a mini-set by itself. Jelena and Jennifer both started coming in to net, and with Dominique feeling the pressure, she made a ton of errors, giving JC/JD a 5-2 lead in the tie-break. Els stepped up to save the day, though, and her team won an astonishing 5 points in a row, helped by Dominique just making the play and not trying to out-duel Jelena at the baseline.

What happened next kept the crowd on the edge of their seats, thrilling the Jelena/Jennifer fans (which, of course, comprised most of the stands) and got groans from the Belgian fans. Show Court 3 was absolutely packed by now, and there wasn't a single empty seat to be found. People were still pouring in, though, and the ushers had to open up the media seats to the public. Down 5-6, Jelena and Jennifer actually saved a total of 12 -- yes, 12 -- match points before Els got the set and the match for her team with a beautiful touch volley ending the tie-breaker at 14-12. Dominique and Els must have sighed a sigh of relief as they walked off the court. Up next for them would be another young team making headlines, Anna Kournikova and Barbara Schett.