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The women?s portion of the Indian Wells tournament always gets off to a slow start, at least glamour-wise, since the top 32 seeds all receive first round byes. Therefore, most of the players in action on opening day were unknown to many fans. The remark of one spectator, as she stared at the scoreboard trying to decide which match to attend, was typical. ?I don?t know any of these players! Oh, I do know Lucic,? she added after spotting the name of the once-feared Mirjana Lucic.

Despite the lack of star power, there were some good matches to be seen, tears were shed, and we even had an all-sister duel on the schedule. And yes, Mirjana Lucic was on the scene?

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Magüi Serna def. Emilie Loit, 6-4, 6-3
First round
Stadium 2
Previous head-to-head: Serna leads 4-1

France?s Emilie Loit jumped out of obscurity at the Australian Open this month ago. She battled eventual champion Serena Williams tooth and nail for three sets in Melbourne, even inciting the world number one to swear at her after the Frenchwoman had the nerve to fight off a match point with a drop shot. Loit, who lost a lot of weight in the off-season and is now in fighting trim, has also reached two semifinals already this season (Canberra, and just last week, Acapulco). This figured to be a good test a gainst a fellow left-hander, the talented Canary Islander Serna, who has been a troublesome opponent for Loit in the past.

It turned out to be a fine match between these two southpaws. They have a lot of shots and tactics in their arsenal, including -- gasp! -- the volley, and are not afraid to use them. Serna had considerable success chipping and charging to Loit?s weaker side, the backhand, while Loit was scoring with her now-famous drop shot and looking for chances to nail her potent inside-out forehand. In the end, the match was decided by Serna?s intelligent and proficient play.

Loit had the first bright moments, riding her strong forehands to a 4-2 lead. But Serna turned on the pressure with her chip-and-charge tactics, winning the final four games to close out the first set. Set point was a dandy: Serna stayed in the rally with some excellent retrieving, and finally passed Loit with a crosscourt forehand winner.

While Serna was sharp, Loit was slightly off form, missing a number of short forehands and approach shots at key points. She showed her exasperation early in the second set after driving yet another short ball into the net, scolding herself in French, ?That?s 20 times now, maybe more!? She was also letting out her frustrations on the chair umpire, calling him ?connard? (roughly, ?idiot?), after an overrule.

Loit?s last stand came at 4-6, 2-4, when she broke Serna by pressuring her at the net and forcing an errant lob by the Spaniard. But she immediately lost her own serve at 3-4, 15-40, with a wild swinging volley that was way too long, drawing a groan from the spectators. The solid Serna made no mistake with the match on her racquet at 5-3, serving it out at love.

Magüi Serna will attempt to continue her fine form in the second round against yet another left-hander. She will face 24th seed Clarisa Fernández, who ousted Serna in the second round of the Australian Open in January.

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Angelique Widjaja def. Akiko Morigami (Q), 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
First round
Court 5
Previous head-to-head: First meeting

Japan?s Akiko Morigami had impressed us during qualifying with her laser two-handed forehand, so we were curious to see how she would fare in the main draw against a two-time tournament champion. Indonesian prodigy Angelique Widjaja (pictured at right) is only 18 years old and has won two WTA events in Asia, but has yet to perform well in North America.

Angie (as Widjaja is known in her homeland) got off to a quick start with strong serving and wicked, whipping forehands, and cruised to a 5-2 lead. But serving for the set at 5-3, Widjaja wobbled, producing a series of baseline errors that allowed Morigami to stay in the set. With new life, Akiko began to find the range with her net-skimming two-handed forehands, often forcing Widjaja into a defensive mode. The Japanese even produced a sparkling one-handed forehand winner on the run that drew applause fr om her opponent. Morigami broke again at 5-5 on an unorthodox, swinging two-handed forehand volley, and closed out the first set 7-5 with a service winner on her second set point.

In the second set, Widjaja reacted positively by tightening up her baseline game and matching the depth and penetration of her opponent. Angie got the only break she needed with Akiko serving at 2-3. At 30-30 Morigami committed a costly backhand error, and Widjaja converted the break point with a booming forehand return that she followed to the net, knocking off the easy volley. The Indonesian cruised through the rest of the set, winning the remaining two games to level the match. It seemed to us that Morigami, who had played a three set qualifying match yesterday, was fading fast.

Morigami took a 2-1 lead in the third set, but she was feeling the onset of cramps, and called for a trainer to massage her calves. Still, the feisty Morigami soldiered on, and with some success. When she took a 4-3 lead with a break in hand, she appeared to be closing in on a win. However, Morigami surrendered the advantage here. She threw in a costly double fault at 30-30. On break point Widjaja produced a strong baseline drive that she followed to the net for an easy volley winner, and the deciding set was now knotted at at 4-all. Here the air finally came out of the weary Morigami?s tires. Widjaja confidently went in for the kill, holding at love and then breaking at love. Angie sealed the 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win on match point with a drop shot that Morigami returned long.

Having survived a tough struggle against a game opponent, young Angelique Widjaja now moves on to play 9th seed Patty Schnyder at 10:00 tomorrow morning. It?s a short turnaround after a tough three-setter, but Angie seems very fit and appeared to have lots of energy to spare at the end of today?s battle.

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Wandering in the desert

Phenoms past and present

With the tournament?s star power on hold until tomorrow, much of the interest today was following the highly touted young stars of the future, as well as players who used to be thought of in those terms but are now down on their luck.

Chief among the ?Ghosts of Potential Past? was Mirjana Lucic. Lucic was ranked in to top 30 at age 16, but now, at an old-looking 20 years of age, has slipped to #204. Blasting low percentage shots from start to finish, Lucic bowed out today to Emmanuelle Gagliardi, 7-5, 6-3. It could be said that Mirjana was unlucky to draw such a motivated opponent (Gagliardi reached the semifinals here last year and has plenty of ranking points to defend). But it is also true that she is lucky to be getting wild cards at important tournaments despite showing very few sign s of a return to form during the last three years.

16-year-old Dinara Safina was one of the more intriguing representatives of the ?young guns? on display today. Marat Safin?s sister is every bit as tempestuous and streaky as her brother, and she went through the gamut of emotions in a roller-coaster 0-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-2) loss to the experienced Czech Denisa Chladkova. Safina destroyed her opponent in the first set; then fell behind 1-5 in the second before storming back to force a tie-break, which she lost. In the third set Safina se rved for the match at 5-4, but made a hash of it and was broken at love. Again a tie-break was called for. Safina fell behind 2-1 on a double fault, a wild forehand error made it 3-1, and Chladkova cruised home to from there to bring a close to Safina?s eventful but unsuccessful Indian Wells debut.

After the match we witnessed an interesting episode. A distraught Safina left the court in tears, and walked toward the locker room. En route she was joined by her mother (also her coach). Far from being comforting, Mom told Dinara some things in a stern voice, and the girl was obviously in no mood to hear them. Dinara quickly veered left and strode down a grassy slope to avoid the lecture, but before long her mother caught up to her. Through the gathering darkness we saw Dinara sit on the ground, hangi ng her head, and her mother drape a towel around her dejected daughter?s shoulders. At this point the prying eyes of On The Line left mother and daughter, who now looked more like mother and daughter than coach and pupil, in peace.

Antonella reluctantly KOs big sister

The Williams sisters may have been missing from this year?s field, but we did get an unexpected sister showdown when qualifier Antonella Serra-Zanetti was drawn to face her older sister Adriana in the first round. The younger sister came away with the win, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3 . When the match ended we saw no hugging or other shows of affection. After a perfunctory handshake, both left the court separately, and both were in tears. The moment was as clearly as wrenching for the winner as it was for the loser.

To add to the family drama, today was the unfortunate Adriana?s 27th birthday. 22-year-old Antonella admitted that she doesn?t have a present for her sister yet. ?I didn?t have time. But I will buy something nice to make up for the loss.?

Tomorrow?s second round presents another difficult match for Adriana, but in another sense. She will face second seed Jennifer Capriati.