A confident Daniel Nestor got Canada off to a strong start, using his experience both on hard courts and in Davis Cup to overwhelm a nervous-looking Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets. Nestor has been a Davis Cupper since 1990, while this was Chela's first experience in this competition.

Nestor's strategy was simple: serve and volley on first and second serves, attack Chela's serve with aggressive returns, and on the baseline points take control with aggressive drives early in the point to put the solid baseliner on the defensive. The tactic worked like a charm against the thin Argentine, who was constantly on his heels, struggling with his timing on a very slick hard court, and unable to put a dent in the Canadian lefty's strong service game.

Chela has the strange no-windup service motion used by some of his compatriots, such as Franco Squillari and Mariano Zabaleta. His first serve is only average, and his second serve is quite soft and eminently attackable, and Nestor, a doubles specialist who returns well, went after it with a vengeance. Chela showed occasional flashes of excellence with his two-handed backhand, reputed to be one of the best on tour, or well-placed lobs. But the Argentine was more often than not trying simply to get Nesto r's bombs back in court, and with his low first serve percentage was giving Nestor far too many second offerings to attack.

The first set started in the sunshine, with windy and coolish (low 20s) conditions. Nestor was the first to get in trouble on his serve, as he muffed a few volleys to set up the first break point in game three. However, he solidified his serve-volley game to hold serve. Chela, in turn, got in trouble on serve in the next game, as his weak second serve was bludgeoned by Nestor repeatedly. But Nestor could not capitalize, his returns and groundstrokes now failing him as Chela held. The Canadian's pressu re finally got to Chela at 2-3, when the Argentine, constantly in a defensive posture, mis-hit a backhand wide on break point to go down 2-4. Nestor, now blasting aces and volleying with confidence, held serve the rest of the way to take the first set 6-3.

Chela, who admitted to being "nervous at the beginning", seemed less tense by the time the second set came around, and put up a spirited attempt to make a match of it. He continued to get into trouble on his serve, notably falling behind 0-40 in the fifth game of the second set. However, this time he was able to serve his way out of trouble by getting some clutch first serves in, and even making a rare foray to the net to knock off a volley. The Argentine beanpole was unable to find a solution to Nesto r's serve-volley style, however, and the players stayed on serve until the crucial tie-break.

A tie-break, you say? Needless to say, this calls for the patented On The Line tie break summary. As throughout the match, Nestor's inspired aggression left Chela with few replies....

• JIC serving - DN works his way into the net and hits an impressive forehand drop volley winner, 1-0 DN and the mini-break
• DN serve and high forehand volley winner, 2-0 DN
• JIC hits second serve forehand return into the bottom of the net, 3-0 DN
• DN nets a routine mid-court forehand, 3-1 DN
• DN nails backhand return winner, 4-1 DN with two mini-breaks
• DN serve and forehand volley winner, 5-1 DN
• DN service winner down the middle, 6-1 DN
• JIC service winner to DN's forehand, 6-2 DN
• JIC hits an ace, 6-3 DN
• DN hits a good wide serve, JIC nets the forehand return, DN converts on his third set point to take a 2-0 lead in the match. JIC slams his racquet in disgust.

In the third set, dangerous looking clouds moved into the Jarry Park Tennis Centre, and the gloom overhead was matched by the mood of the dejected Chela. The Argentine sagged badly as the confident Canadian rolled to a 4-0 third-set lead. Chela had a brief resurgence by breaking Nestor at this point, for the first time in the match, on a tasty forehand lob. But it was too little, too late. Nestor regained control, and showed no signs of nerves serving for the match at 5-3. Nestor converted his first match point with a service winner, and when Chela's forehand return landed beyond the baseline, Nestor sealed the important first point for Canada. Daniel was greeted warmly by a very pleased captain Louis Cayer, who high-fived the entire Canadian delegation in the first row. Make the final: 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3.

Nestor understandably said he was "very satisfied" with his showing, and he recognized that his opponent was handicapped by his lack of experience on hard courts. "Most hard courts aren't this fast," observed the lanky southpaw, "and it was his first hard court tournament of the year." Well, not quite. Chela told the press through an interpreter that he did play once before on hard this year, in March at the Ericsson Open qualifying in Miami. "But this is a lot faster here. I was having a lot of prob lems. He played well, and served well, and I was serving badly and playing badly," lamented the downcast native of Buenos Aires. "Playing Davis Cup for the first time was a great experience, very nice, but I'm disappointed that I lost. I want to play a lot more on hard courts in the future."

The ominous clouds began spitting light rain, delaying the Lareau-Calleri match slightly, and causing another brief delay in the first set. But neither rain nor snow nor sleet could have stopped the Calleri onslaught. Court One is known for the train tracks that run past the south stands, and passenger trains rumbled by twice today. But they paled next to the Calleri Express, which a helpless Lareau could only stand and watch speed past him.

Calleri was that good. He confirmed his excellent results of this year (a win over Rosset and a tight three set loss to Henman on hard courts, upsets over Mantilla and Hrbaty at the French Open), and showed he has a game that can work on all surfaces. It was obvious early in the match that this was not to be a repeat of Chela's out-of-sorts performance. The powerfully-built Calleri delivered an endless barrage of booming serves (23 aces). His returns were astonishing, and he passed the net-rushing Lar eau seemingly at will, with his ripping one-handed backhand or his explosive forehand finding the open court with regularity. The Canadian crowd was for the most part reduced to sitting in stunned silence, watching the brown-haired 23-year-old from Buenos Aires hit winner after winner, punctuated with a fist pump and cries of "vamos!" or "eso!" Truly outstanding stuff.

Consider these comments from an amazed Lareau, who at 27 years old has played just about all of the top players on the tour, and is not easily impressed:

"I didn't expect that at all?. Today he was serving like Sampras. I've never seen serving like that, except maybe from Ivanisevic. He never lost his service rhythm, hats off to him? Even when I was up a break in the second set I didn't feel in control? The last time I was dominated like that was against Sampras at Wimbledon, and that was a year ago? He'll be in the top ten soon."

Lareau only looked like Calleri's equal briefly in the second set, when he broke the Argentine's serve with some blazing returns and winners of his own. But the Canadian could not maintain this tempo, and Calleri reasserted his dominance to cruise to an impressive win. Lareau, too weak off the forehand side from the baseline and making too many backhand volley errors, had to wait and hope that Calleri would cool down. He never did.

When asked after the match if he expected such an easy time, the Argentine answered in a matter-of-fact tone: "Yes, it was easy for me. I had a good service and hit the ball hard and deep. I did not give a chance to the opponent."

His serve was so dominant that in his first service game of the second set, he boomed four straight aces to win the game at love. "I think I've done that before," he recalled with a smile, "but I can't remember when."

So Calleri's fantastic performance levelled the tie at 1-1, with the crucial doubles to come tomorrow. Both captains agree that Canada is the favourite, as doubles aces Lareau and Nestor will be teaming up and should not be tired from playing relatively short matches today. But Argentina has two top-100 doubles players of its own in Martin Garcia and Martin Rodriguez, and will not be pushovers. "Canada has two very good players and are favourites," recognized Argentine captain Franco Davin, "but Argent ina has very good players too, to make it a good match. The biggest point is tomorrow, and we need to get it." Canadian captain Louis Cayer agreed that Canada will have the edge in doubles: "Argentina will feel like the underdogs and will be going for it a lot. It will be a tough match. But I like our chances. In a best of five, the best team usually wins."

The captains said there will be no changes in the announced doubles alignments, even though some reporters thought that Davin might be tempted to use Calleri after his astonishing showing today.

Check in for another on the spot report tomorrow!