Many tennis fans attend a tournament to watch the stars in action. But there is also much excitement to be seen on the outlying courts in the early rounds, especially in a tournament as filled with male and female tennis talent as The Lipton in Key Biscayne, Florida. So come along with me, and we'll prowl the side courts and size up the matches you might not have heard much about.

Well, we have to make a few trips to the stadium just to see how high up our seats really are. And to see the much-discussed Venus Williams for the first time. My initial impression is that there's a tremendous foundation for stardom in Venus' game, but there is also an awful lot of polishing up to do. There is no doubt she has a scary power baseline game, runs well, and has a big serve. But a girl that big and athletic is a fool if she doesn't charge the net regularly. I think she knows that, and she does try sometimes, but she does not have good net instincts. She reacts late at the net, and often can't bring down her volley and pushes it wide.

I've heard it said that her strokes are ugly; again, it's perhaps a case of late preparation. I thought she took the ball behind her a little and then muscled it, which is not that aesthetically pleasing. Also, I suspect this technique would rob her of some control.

In short, Venus already has enough of a power/speed dimension to be at a top-10 level in women's tennis right now. But to get farther than that, I think she needs refinement and, of course, match experience.

Finally, I could hear her beads jangling from the top row of the stadium; she edges out Seles on my Grunt-O-Meter; and her dress designer has got to go. I wonder how long it will be before opponents complain about the rattling beads?....

Gosh, this is high up! Let's go do some side court prowling.

Tommy Haas def. Guy Forget, 7-6 (2), 7-5

Poor Guy. Retire, Guy. The former top-10 Frenchman was strangely slow to take the net, probably in large part because of the deep groundies he was getting from Haas. But he seemed tentative and not at all confident, particularly on big points. In the tie-break, he hit some wildly inaccurate approach shots. I was told he was injured the previous week at Indian Wel Haas, on the other hand, is good. I had a chance to see both of the German hopefuls, Haas and Nicolas Kiefer, and I found Haas much more interesting. Tommy is a strict baseliner, but has a very impressive and mature groundie game for such a young lad. He can hit heavy topspin or flat, has a nice one-handed backhand which he slices and comes over with equal effectiveness. He seems mature and aware of what he is doing, and plays smart. Haas also has a nice court demeanour: he bounces around very alertly and seems to enjoy his work.

Grant Stafford def. Leander Paes, 7-6, 7-6

My first chance to check out a most intriguing player, India's Olympic bronze medallist Leander Paes, up close. It was the last match of a day marred by rain delays, so I stayed until the last dog was hung along with a handful of others, on a side cour Both Stafford and Paes are attacking players, but they attack so differently from each other. Stafford has a big first serve, plays a straight ahead serve and volley style, and takes a big rip at the ball off the return. Leander is also a S&V guy, but is anything but straight ahead. His quick feet are reminiscent of Michael Chang's : the sneaker-squeaking on the hard court is almost cacophonous. I wondered whether he should get a little simpler and if some of those "stepp There was an interestingly-timed rain delay in the second set, at 4-4, with Stafford facing a break point at 30-40, second serve! I thought it would be very tough for Grant to come back and face such a key point after the delay, but he wound up holding.

In the second-set tie-break Leander took the early lead, moving to a 5-4 advantage with two serves to come to square the match. Alas, he botched both points. First, he missed an approach shot, and I let out a soft "Let's go, Leander". One didn't have to yell loudly to be heard in that quiet, damp side court! He looked my way, and I didn't like what I saw: he looked more discouraged than determined. He then double-faulted. I'll keep my mouth shut next time. Stafford, much cooler, aced him to close out to the match. I guess that's what the cliché about "winning the big points" is referring to.

Ruxandra Dragomir def. Ines Gorrochategui, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)

An ideal opportunity for me to holler "vamos" a few times in support of cult favourite Gorrochategui. I love nothing better than bellowing in Spanish at tennis matches.

There was almost nothing to choose between these two in a high quality, entertaining match. It is awfully tempting to compare Gorrochategui to her now-retired Argentine countrywoman, Gabriela Sabatini. The same lovely, full swinging topspin forehand and topspin backhand; the same effective slice; the same 55 mph second serve. On the downside, she seems a little less mobile than Her Gabyness was. But on the upside, she doesn't double fault as often. A very appealing player to watch. She's all business, too: she has an impressively scowling game face and looks like she wants every point desperately.

Dragomir is quite talented and exceedingly quick. Foot speed may have been the difference in the match. "Drags", as the Romanian is known, also attacked the net on occasion, especially on big points.

There were many long points rallies, and both women were struggling with the oppressive early afternoon heat. Ines was going for long walks in the shade along the fence between points, while Drags looked ready to perform a Samprasian expulsion at one point. The umpire wisely threw the time rule out the window.

Ines did have a match point in the final tie-break: Drags had tried a weird Agassi-drop-shot-that-never-had-a-chance, giving Ines a 6-5 lead. But Drags rebounded with some brave and effective attacks, taking the match. Ines looked absolutely devastated after the match, but it was a superb performance of which she need not have been ashamed. A very gutsy effort by both women, and the most enthralling women's match I saw here.

Francisco Clavet def. Nicolas Kiefer, 6-2, 6-3

This was the first time I had ever seen the member of the Spanish Armada about whom everyone seems to forget: Francisco "Pato" Clavet. He is indeed fun to watch. Clavet is a lefty, and smallish in stature. Very early preparation, and then whips the racquet up and through the ball with his spin of choice. And he has a lot of funky spins in his arsenal. It struck me that it would be hard to read his shots because of how long he holds the racquet back before suddenly accelerating. Kiefer couldn't figure him out, that's for sure.

Clavet boasts very smooth movement around the court. A good return, and he didn't seem to be having problems reading Kiefer's big first serve.

Kiefer isn't the next Becker, or so was my impression. Kiefer is a strong-looking young man, possessing a big serve, big forehand, and two-handed backhand, but I didn't see much that would differentiate him from a lot of other players on the tour. As he futilely chased down Clavet's wildly spinning strokes, mis-hitting and over-hitting his attempts at winners, I imagined him saying to himself, "Gee, there weren't many juniors who played like Pato!"

Andrei Medvedev def. Petr Korda, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3)

What a match!

By the time I got to "Woodstock", Korda and Medvedev were on serve early in the second set. Both men looked very sharp. Medvedev was blasting impressively from the baseline, while Korda was ripping impossible returns and laser forehands down the line. Both men also tried to rush the net with fair frequency, which surprised me a bit coming from Medvedev.

The second set tie-break saw Andrei make a few badly-timed goofs that allowed his opponent to take command. Then Petr put the reluctant Ukrainian away with a series of searing forehands that were vintage Korda, reminiscent of the strokes that were commonly seen when he was a top-ten player.

"Woodstock", as Korda is sometimes known, started off the third set in similar brilliant fashion, and looked to be on the road to victory with an early break. But he gave the break back in the sixth game with a shoddy effort, missing two easy mid-court sitters. Even though Petr managed to hold serve to force the breaker, he looked bedraggled and maybe a bit hurt: he was moving gingerly between points as if his

In the final tie-break, Andrei took an early mini-break with some well-timed serve-volley play, as he attacked Beak's backhand and Petr netted the pass attempt. On match point at 6-3, a Medvedev shot was called long, but the umpire overruled and ordered them to play a let. Korda was far from happy. On the replayed point the Czech pushed a backhand approac

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario def. Henrieta Nagyova
7-5, 4-6, 6-4

As the score against a modest opponent indicates -- to say nothing of her subsequent loss to Sandrine Testud -- Emilio Sanchez has not yet worked wonders with his struggling sister. Nagyova worked the Sanchez forehand mercilessly, and got her share of errors off it. The Bee had some good moments, but is still far too passive most of the time. She does battle, though. I found myself in a section of Sanchez boosters who were quite delightful, and participated in some splendid Spanish-language pro-Arantxa chants. How I adore bellowing in Spanish at tennis tournaments.

Nicklas Kulti def. Daniel Nestor, 6-4, 7-5

This was a third round match. Canada's Daniel Nestor had just defeated struggling Thomas Enqvist in a second-rounder that I figured would be an easy win for the Swede, and therefore did not attend. So I thought I would do my patriotic duty and see how Daniel would do against another Swede, Davis Cup hero Kulti.

I arrived for the second set. As I expected, it was a battle between Nestor's impressive lefty serve and relentless net attacks, and Kulti's passes and lobs. Both were playing their games fairly well, but Nestor was smothering the net, serving and volleying with great effectiveness, and giving Kulti little room to breathe.

In the second set the lanky Canuck raced to a 4-0 lead, but the wheels came off completely. This was Nestor's third match in three days, and conditioning has never been Daniel's trademark. He started to miss serves and flub his approach shots, and the Swede, who spanks the ball mightily off both wings from the baseline, made him pay. In particular, Kulti's backhand crosscourt pass was superb in the final games of the match.

Irina Spirlea def. Sabine Appelmans, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3

This was my first in-person look at these two, and it turned out to be an entertaining match.

Spirlea obviously has enormous talent. She's taller than I thought, and has all the physical tools. As my neighbour in the stands accurately observed, Spirlea is remarkably like Graf, with two differences: she has a topspin backhand, and lacks determination. It's true, Irina's concentration wanders all over the place.

This match was not fun for Sabine, so the famous Appelmans smiles were hardly to be seen. She was essentially forced into a retrieving mode by Spirlea's superior power. Sabine does scramble effectively with her characteristic hunched-over running style, but she was essentially at the whim of Irina's mood swings.

Spirlea did manage to gather her wavering concentration sufficiently to close out the match. She needed six match points to do it as the gritty Belgian hung tough, but finally the talented Romanian put the match away.

Jonas Bjorkman def. Marcelo Rios, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1

This was my last match of the tournament, and it was a dandy. Rios was getting a lot of support from the largely Hispanic crowd, urging him on with cries of "¡Vamos Chino!". But Bjorkman had a pocket of support, notably from a small group of Swedish p

Say what you want about the moody Chilean, but Marcelo has a lot of game. The serve is not shabby at all, especially the lefty slider from the ad court. I was also surprised at his volley, which is excellent. He has great hands and a drop volley of high quality. Rios maintains an impressive cadence from the baseline, and can run down a lot of balls. The weakness, aside from his wavering focus, appeared to be the backhand, especially on the run.

This was a great tactical match. Rios would try to get into a diagonal exchange which would pit his forehand against Bjorman's backhand. Jonas would try to get a pattern going which would patch his forehand against Rios' backhand. The players would switch down the line when the pattern wasn't to their liking.

Rios actually won the first game of the third set, breaking Bjorkman. But Jonas played magnificently to reel off six straight games and close out the match. The Swede's serve, which was not too consistent in the first two sets, really firmed up and allowed him to practice his serve and volley game with great success. Bjorkman stepped it up from the baseline too, ripping a series of impressive forehands that were painting the corner on the Chilean's backhand side.

Jonas is very aggressive on the return too, standing well inside the baseline to receive the first serve. He seemed to have Marcelo's serve pretty well figured out by the third set.

Rios' mental toughness has been questioned from time to time. But I thought he fought hard almost all the way, only getting that hangdog look late in the third set when down 5-1. He pretty much gave away the last game of the match.

At that time of the season, Bjorkman was on fire, holding the second-best win total on tour this year, and Marcelo was not getting good results, so the Swede's win was not unexpected. The Swedish players in attendance saluted their countryman's fine wi