Six days before the 2006 US Open was to officially commence with all its glitz and glamour, the lower-ranked players began their hard slog through the qualifying. The most notable change at the Open this year is the long overdue introduction of an instant replay system players can use to challenge questionable line calls. The Hawkeye cameras were battle tested for the first time on Tuesday, as Michael Llodra and Robert Yim became the first men ever to play a round of qualifying in Arthur Ashe Stadium. If that sounds like a nifty treat for the fans...well, it wasn't. The match was not made available for public viewing, lending it a certain "tree falls in the forest" quality. There was plenty of action around the grounds, however. Even courts 5 and 12 -- used strictly for practice during the tournament proper -- were fitted with new scoreboards and put to use.

Sunny skies and a rare bit of newspaper advertising resulted in the highest attendance I've ever seen at the qualies. As a matter of fact, the aforementioned Court 5 drew the kind of overflow capacity crowd that would make you swear Andre Agassi and James Blake were staging a rematch. In actuality, it was a meeting of one-time Masters Series overachievers: 2000 Toronto finalist Harel Levy and 2001 Hamburg champion Albert Portas. Those fortunate enough to grab a seat watched Levy come from behind to score a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over the 19th seeded "Drop Shot Dragon."

Another seed had a far easier go of it on Tuesday morning. Robert Kendrick, seeded 31st in the qualies, blasted his way past Arvind Parmar by a 6-3, 6-3 count. Parmar, a British journeyman, didn't take the loss well. He violently slammed his racquet after the post-match handshake and ignored a group of well-wishers who offered words of encouragement as he left the court. Kendrick was understandably in a far more generous mood, sticking around to sign autographs long after his win. Less than two months removed from nearly upsetting Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, the talented-but-mercurial Kendrick appears to be playing with a wealth of confidence.

Among the other Americans teeing it up on opening day was 16-year-old wild card entrant Madison Brengle. After getting smoked off the court by Viktoriya Kutuzova in last year's qualies, Brengle found herself in a far more competitive encounter, taking a 2-6, 6-3, 3-1 lead over Katarina Kachlikova. At that point, the very fragile looking Slovakian -- who overcame vague health problems to win a qualifying round a year ago -- took an injury timeout in the middle of a game.

After being treated by the trainer, Kachlikova looked good as new, winning a pair of long rallies to hold serve. Brengle didn't exactly mask her disgust over this possible bit of gamesmanship. On the way to her chair for the subsequent changeover, Brengle groaned and muttered, "That is soooo friggin' European, I swear to God." Brengle kept her focus, though, eventually digging out a nice half-volley on match point to finish a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory. Kachlikova looked absolutely despondent after the match, slowing leaving the court with her coach's reassuring arm around her.

Carly Gullickson was less fortunate than Brengle...and certainly less waiflike than Kachlikova. Considered one of the better American prospects a few years ago, Gullickson's progress has stagnated and her already questionable fitness appears to be taking a turn for the worse. It's a shame, because her aggressive, all-court game can be very entertaining. Anyhow, stamina wasn't the real issue on this day -- Gullickson was just far too inconsistent, dumping volleys and spraying forehand errors in a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Lioudmila Skavronskaia.

Through little fault of her own, Stephanie Dubois recently made it into the tennis headlines. She was across the net from Kim Clijsters in Montreal when the reigning US Open champion suffered the wrist injury that knocked her out of this year's Open. The ranking points Dubois picked up there enabled her to be seeded in the qualifiying...but she didn't look worthy of that status early on, playing a truly horrendous service game to fall behind 2-3 against Casey Dellacqua. Furious with herself, the Quebec native turned around and smacked a ball against the backdrop with all her might. That seemed to loosen her up: Dubois went on a huge run, pulling ahead 6-3, 5-1. Dellacqua saved three match points in holding to 2-5, but Dubois served it out from there and stuck out her tongue in celebration.

Still kicking around the circuit at age 35, you'd think Dick Norman would be making good use of the precious time remaining in his career. Unfortunately, the giant Belgian appeared to retreat into full-fledged tanking mode after dropping serve to trail baby-faced Ernest Gulbis 6-4, 3-2. Norman started half-heartedly shanking returns, failing to chase balls he had a chance to reach, and generally looking disinterested. At 4-3 in the second set, Gulbis managed to loft a lob over the 6 foot 8 veteran's head. Norman lumbered back for it, got to the ball in time...and promptly smacked it sideways, off into the distance! Norman, whose gratuitous return of a Gulbis fault landed in the woods two games earlier, was assessed a code violation for ball abuse.

On the verge of beating a # 5 seed old enough to be his father, the 17-year-old Latvian froze up, donating a service break to even up the second set at 4 games apiece. This prompted no change of expression from Norman, who continued raining down big lefty serves and otherwise making minimal effort. Gulbis won the inevitable second set tiebreak 7 points to 4 and advanced to the second round. All in all, a sad display from Dick Norman, a normally sympathetic figure whose 5-set war with Gael Monfils at the French Open was one of this year's most memorable matches.

Players already in the main draw may not have been playing on Tuesday, but several of them could be spotted around the grounds. Shahar Peer took a seat in Court 5's bleachers, cheering Israeli compatriot Noam Okun to victory over Alex Bogdanovic. After playing for the New York Buzz of World Team Tennis last month, Viktoriya Kutuzova appears to have stayed in touch with teammate Scott Lipsky. They were together at Court 10, watching Lipsky's old Stanford buddy Sam Warburg lose to local favorite Nikita Kryvonos. Last but not least, Dinara Safina settled in right next to me in the Court 7 stands, on hand to support a talented Belgian.

Three years ago, Kirsten Flipkens was named ITF Junior World Champion after winning girls' singles titles at Wimbledon and the US Open. Flipkens has all the shots, hits them fluidly, and knows how to win, so what's she still doing in the qualifying? Better yet, how did she drop the opening set to little-known, easily distracted Ana Timotic? The unseeded Serbian was annoyed by everything from talkative fans to scoreboard problems. Timotic was even aggravated by the delay that took place when a ballgirl was struck in the face and had to be helped off the court with a bloody nose.

Flipkens, meanwhile, was being urged on by Safina, who issued words of support like "good fight" and "come on, this one" when she wasn't quietly signing autographs for the handful of spectators who recognized her. Safina's presence seemed to help change the momentum. Flipkens broke for a 4-3 lead in the second set and put away a leaping overhead on set point to win it 6-4. Safina headed back to the locker room and the extremely gifted Flipkens charged into the second round by a final score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The last match still on court as darkness descended on Flushing Meadows featured Clarisa Fernandez, the Argentine southpaw who made a surprise run to the 2002 French Open semifinals. Since that breakthrough, Fernandez's career has been a story of injury woes and wasted potential, but she's been showing signs of life recently. That said, there was no reason for Fernandez to still be toiling at 8:45 in the evening against Ting (sr) Li, who couldn't buy a first serve and was faltering in the longer rallies. Fernandez failed to serve it out at 5-2 in the final set and just barely escaped by a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 count. Remarking aloud that his charge had made the match far too complicated, Fernandez's coach made his way onto the court and gave Clarisa a long lecture.

A few other odds and ends from Day One...

Most Mocked Stroke: "I can do better than that," observed one fan as he and a friend cracked wise watching the hitchy, powderpuff serve of Antonella Serra Zanetti. At least the mockery was short lived -- Mathilde Johansson ushered Serra Zanetti out of the event 6-3, 6-1. Antonella's older sister Adriana, on the comeback trail following a lengthy absence from the tour, fared no better. She fell 6-2, 6-1 to Tzipora Obziler.

Biggest Physical Mismatch: Standing 6 foot 6, Dominik Meffert looked like an absolute beast compared to little Diego Junqueira. David nearly slew Goliath, though, as the towering German needed to save match points in a tense second set tiebreak before finishing off the scrappy Argentine 5-7, 7-6, 6-3. The fact that Meffert -- with serves as big and imposing as his body -- has never been ranked higher than 208th in the world is Exhibit A of the depth on the men's tour.

Most Scantily Clad: Justin Gimelstob's controversial observation that his counterparts on the women's tour are wearing less and less continues to be embodied by Croatia's hard hitting enigma Ivana Lisjak. Well prepared for the sunny, humid conditions, Lisjak took the court wearing a sleeveless, midriff-baring cropped top and short shorts. Struggling to defend the ranking points she earned by reaching the third round of the main draw in 2005, Lisjak needed three sets to shrug off Oxana Lyubtsova (who looks like a cross between Tatiana Panova and Sabine Appelmans).

Most Dubious Compliment: "Let me get a picture of the new rising star of tennis!" exclaimed an enthusiastic fellow as Zsofia Gubacsi left Court 12 following a rather sloppy three set win over Miho Saeki. Gubacsi is a 25-year-old journeywoman who hasn't won a main draw match in a Grand Slam tournament since her promising run at the 2001 French Open. Nevertheless, Zsofia stopped and gave the guy a broad smile as he took the photograph.