Today, it was the turn of the top half of the draw to be in action. Tathiana Garbin, who had come through qualifying, was taking on Ruxandra Dragomir. Both players took a while to warm up, but Tathiana was making her mistakes a little sooner than Ruxy, and that gave Dragomir a quick break. Before long, Tathiana found herself down 4-1, but managed to get one break back for 5-3 with a lot of scrambling and an increased number of net attacks. Ruxandra might have gotten a little too comfortable, as the Italian warrior got the second break back for 5-all.

Feeling the pressure, Ruxandra picked up her pace and took a little off her shots to play with higher percentages. She got the break again, and Tathiana found herself facing three set points all of a sudden. Chiding herself for getting into so much trouble so soon after getting out of the first mess, she got her returns in deep and managed to get into net quick enough not to get caught coming in. She saved the first set point, then the second, then the third! However, she ran out of steam, and lost the next two points to give Dragomir the first set.

Probably still thinking about how her efforts had been wasted in the last game, Tathiana started the second set badly. She had to save one break point on the way to holding serve to take the first game of the second set. Ruxandra, on the other hand, had an easy serving game, thanks to some good serving and service return errors from Garbin.

During the changeover, Tathiana had turned her chair sideways to face the second chair on her side, put her feet up, and put her headphones on. It was pretty amusing to see her immersed in her own little world for 30 seconds, drinking Evian and relaxing to the rapid beats of some dance mix track. Tathiana picked up her first serve percentage, and four good serves gave her her service game at love. The next game also flew by quickly, with Ruxandra coming in to net on the first opportunity, and got 4 points in a row.

The trend was here to stay, and Garbin continued her good serving to set up some easy first shot winners, giving her her game at love again. The music was certainly helping her get pumped up for her serve. Ruxandra managed to hold serve without too much trouble, but Garbin found herself facing break point again in the next match. She saved it, and went on to hold serve for 4-3.

The play now was a little patchy, with Garbin making a number of unforced errors, but was keeping herself in the match with some good serving. She found herself facing break point for the second straight time, and managed to save it again. She lost the next point to give Ruxandra the advantage, and a good return from the Romanian gave her the break.

Ruxandra continued her percentage game, but Garbin managed to stay close behind with her aggressive play. Ruxandra held one match point at 40-30, but Garbin fought hard to save it. She chipped the service return long on the next point, though, giving Ruxandra match point #2. Instead of playing aggressive tennis and going up to net, Garbin tried a more passive approach this time, staying back and playing patiently, getting the ball back to Dragomir's backhand on every shot. She waited for the right opportunity to go for the winner, and after a long rally, it paid off when Ruxandra got slightly impatient and hit her backhand long.

Having saved 2 match points, Garbin played more aggressively, but pushed a little too early and made another unforced error. That set up the third match point for Ruxandra Dragomir. This time, Garbin couldn't stay in it, and hit a forehand long to take Ruxandra into the second round. Tathiana tossed her racquet high into the air in disappointment, but had a smile to congratulate Ruxandra at the net. The tournament was not over for her yet, though, as she was entered into the doubles with the second seed in qualifying, Katalin Marosi.

Seeing that the first match on center court was still halfway through, I decided to see how Katarina Srebotnik was doing after having a dismal second half of 1999. She was drawn against Jana Nejedly of Canada. Of course, Tina Krizan was in the stands for her good friend. Katarina had looked a lot steadier on her feet during practice the previous day, after going through a rough spell with a leg injury last year.

Throughout the match, I saw little of the brilliance that the Slovenian had shown about a year and a half ago. Her game was ridden with errors, and her serve was a little off at times. The match was interrupted by a short rain delay after the first set, which Jana took 6-4. I came away a little disappointed with the way the Slovenian was playing, but perhaps she's still rusty from the lack of quality match play and from limited practice to let her injury heal. Hopefully she'll be able to get her game back soon. Katarina ended up losing the match after running away with the second set, and must have been disappointed with her 4-6 6-1 4-6 loss.

I also managed to catch the start of the match between Irina Spirlea and Olga Barabanschikova. Irina Spirlea is in the middle of a plunge down the rankings, and has had a terrible time with her tennis lately. Olga Barabanschikova, with her tendency to lose her concentration during matches, would have a chance to gather some quality points.

Irina's tennis was as bad as her results looked on paper. While she normally has a good forehand, a nice slice backhand and an absolutely beautiful topspin backhand, her shots just weren't working for her. Her main problem all this while has been her footwork, and now she looked even slower on court. While the fact that she was playing so poorly must surely have been frustrating, her expression bordered between boredom and being annoyed. More often than not, she'd start the point well, then make a silly mistake and undo her hard work. It also didn't help that there were a couple of questionable line calls on both sides.

Olga, on the other hand, recognized that she had the opportunity for an upset victory, and tried her best to cut down on her errors. Problems with concentration aren't the only thing the Belarussian has in common with her equally popular compatriot; Olga also has a great array of touch shots and has great hands. She mixed up her shots well enough to give Spirlea more trouble than she already was in, and despite the Romanian improving her game towards the end of the first set, Olga managed to take it 6-4.

During the rain delay, I decided to camp out in the media lounge. I was working on my laptop when I looked up on the screen and realized that Martina was already warming up for her match. I cursed myself for not hearing the announcement calling the players to get to the courts, and rushed over to center court, or the Rod Laver Arena, if you will, for the match. Of all draws to get, Mirjana Lucic was drawn as the second player in the draw, that is, the first opponent of the top seed. In this case, it was Martina Hingis, ex-doubles partner and the three-time defending champion looking for an unprecedented fourth successive title.

Mirjana was serving well, but her service percentage was a little off at the beginning of the match. Her groundstrokes were as amazingly hard as ever, but the accuracy was a little off. She didn't construct her points well, and Martina took full advantage of it. Martina used her ability to change the direction of the ball, and, no doubt thanks to her practice sessions with the young Croat early in 1998, didn't seem to have any trouble handling the pace of the ball. In fact, not only did she cope with the pace, but she used it to her advantage whenever possible. Mirjana's game has gotten somewhat predictable lately, and with Martina's added ability to anticipate the ball, Mirjana had a tough task at hand.

Throughout the first five games, Mirjana's strokes were a little off, and were missing the lines by about an inch or so. At 5-0, though, she started to play a little looser, and her shots were coming at Martina with a lot of pace and from every angle. Mirjana managed to hold serve despite being behind in the game, to get on the scoreboard. She also took the first two points in the next game, to get within two point of getting a break back, but the unforced errors started creeping back in, and two service returns into the net gave Martina the first set 6-1.

Mirjana served to open the second set, and came out serving better. Her first serves let her set up the points the way she needed, and she held serve at love. Mirjana kept her returns deep in the next game, but was getting caught flat-footed and Martina got a couple of service winners in. Martina went up 40-30, but another service return winner from Lucic brought it to deuce. Going for a down-the-line service return winner, Mirjana's shot caught the net, giving Martina the advantage. Mirjana saved it by getting the easy putaway after a good return, but yet another serving return error gave Martina the advantage. A serve into the body jammed Mirjana, and Martina held serve at 1-all.

In the next game, Mirjana continued to dazzle the crowd with her service and groundstrokes, and held serve at love again. Mirjana was wisely hitting down the middle of the court when she got caught in a rally with Martina, not giving the Swiss any angle to work with. Mirjana showed a little more patience than usual, and waited at least a couple of shots before going for the winner.

Mirjana started to show a little impatience again in the next game, though, and missed her service returns trying to go for too much. Unforced error after unforced error gave Martina a quick service game. Settling down a little Mirjana used her previous tactic again in her next service game, hitting down the middle of the court. A double-fault at 15-all, and a backhand going just long on the next point gave Martina 2 break points. Mirjana opted to go for 2 first serves, and double-faulted again to give Martina a break without having to do much.

Martina, on the other hand, was taking things a little easy. She knew the Croatian's tendency to become impatient and her risky game which could either make or break the match for her, and Martina played a high percentage game, waiting for her opponent to make the mistake. Mirjana continued to go for too much on her returns, and gave Martina her service game at love. The trend continued for the next game, Mirjana making more mistakes, and Martina would serve for the set at 5-2.

Having very little trouble, Martina cruised to a 6-1 6-2 victory. She looked as relaxed as ever out on the court, and apparently has gotten a lot more relaxed in the interview room as well. She went on to credit Mirjana as a potential threat anytime when asked if her match was a little too quick. She also ducked questions on Jelena Dokic, adding that she had been in similar situations and was in no position to comment or advice the young Australian. Perhaps Jelena's comments might have done good for the rest of the tennis community, as other players will at least think before opening their mouths.

With the match over so quickly, I went to catch Silvija Talaja on Show Court 3 against the young Aussie Alicia Molik. While Alicia already had a cracking serve at the end of last year, she actually improved it tremendously during the year-end break. I had talked a little with Silvija about 2 days ago (Saturday) when she was sitting with her coach and Velimir Zovko (Jelena Kostanic's coach) waiting for their practice session. I actually hadn't noticed Velimir sitting there, and was walking on the other side of the court when I thought I saw Silvija sitting there. It was on the way to where I was heading, so I walked along the opposite side of the court to see if it was actually her, so that I could congratulate her on finally getting her title, when the person behind her waved. It was very nice that he not only recognized me, but also took the initiative to call me over. After some talking, he said that Jelena would be there for practice later, so I went to check out the other matches and came back later to catch the Croats at practice. Jelena saw me and waved between practice rallies. After that, when she came up for a short break, she was very nice and asked some questions about the trip, etc.

Anyway, Silvija looked like she was in trouble, and had only just managed to save the second set 7-5 after losing the first set 1-6. Although she was ahead in the third set, she looked very intimidated by Alicia's serve, and showed a lot of respect by standing pretty much behind the baseline to receive serve. The Australians were clearly cheering for their player, and a number were rather rude in heckling Silvija. By the middle of the third set, there were shouts of "Give us an ace, Alicia" when she went up to serve. While there were a handful of people shouting "Go, Silvija", the same people who cheered for Molik were shouting things like, "Give us a double (fault)".

Silvija didn't need anything more to unnerve her. While she still tried to play her game, Alicia was clearly feeding on the Aussie support. Silvija managed to hold on to her break of serve until 5-4, when she served for the set, but Alicia got the break back and started to serve fantastically. On one point, she went for 2 first serves, and got an ace on the second time. Silvija looked like she had absolutely no idea what to do, and could only watch as ace after ace flew by her. The crowd went wild when Alicia took 3 games in a row to take the match, and a dejected Silvija walked off the court, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.

Silvija later came in for a press conference, and gave a good interview despite the tough loss. When asked by a Croatian reporter about Alicia's serve, she shrugged her shoulders and smiled, saying that she couldn't do anything, and couldn't believe it when Alicia got the second serve ace. As far as I understood, Silvija didn't complain about the crowd, and gave full credit to her opponent, as Alicia fully deserved.

Immediately after Silvija's press conference, I headed out to catch the last remaining Croat in the women's draw, Jelena Kostanic. She was drawn against Mariana Diaz-Oliva, who was still sporting a pretty big knee brace after undergoing knee surgery last year. Both players took a while to get into the match, but Jelena managed to warm up a little quicker, and played well to take the first set 6-3.

In the second set, though, her troubles started popping up. As I had observed earlier, Jelena has huge problems concentrating, and a long string of errors wreaked havoc with her game. She lost her small lead in the second set, and everything started going wrong for her. Mariana used her experience to send the youngster scrambling all over the court, and slowly fought her way back into the match. Jelena got more and more frustrated with her unforced errors and mental lapses, and had a pained look on her face after every missed shot. Somehow, the second set went to a tie-break, which Mariana took 7-3.

Another characteristic I noticed that's gotten Jelena her Aussie Open junior title, though, is her tenacity. No matter how bleak the situation looks, she doesn't give up trying, and just grits her teeth and keeps on fighting. She got into massive trouble in the third set, down 1-4, but slowly, she put her mind into the game, cut down on the mishits and unforced errors, constructed better points, and point by point, worked to get back into the match.

By now, Goran Ivanisevic had come courtside to support his compatriot, and was sitting next to the Croatian reporters who make it a point to catch at least a portion of any Croatian player's match. As Jelena won point after point, saving a couple of game points here and there, her support group was enthusiastically cheering her every point. The Croatian youngster actually won 5 games in a row to take the match 6-4 in the third. She was up 30-love in the last game, and hit a clean winner down the line, which was called out. I was sitting right at the line, as was her support team, and it actually landed inside the line, but was called out. Furious, one of the supporters voiced his discontentment to the umpire, who could only shake his head, and told the linesman to take his sunglasses off. Jelena took the next point confidently, though, to set up 2 match points. Bad line call or not, she wrapped up the match, and a lot of congratulatory kisses on cheeks and shaking of hands went around. Jelena was practically mobbed by autograph-hunters, including a group of young Croatians who had migrated to Australia with their families. Glad that I didn't have to cross out another player on my list of favorites/hopefuls, I headed off to get the schedule for Day 3 and the results for the rest of the matches.