Yesterday had been a remarkable day for the qualifiers in the women?s draw. Of the 12 qualifiers in action, 11 won their matches. Today 7 qualifiers tried to continue their adventure in the second round, and 4 succeeded. However, the 2 qualifiers we have been following, Shenay Perry and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, found they were in over there heads against two of the more solid seeded players. Meanwhile, on the men?s side, teenage stars Robin Soderling and Rafael Nadal made a solid first impression in Indian Wells.

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Nathalie Dechy (19) def. Shenay Perry (Q), 6-3, 6-4
Second round
Stadium 3
Previous head-to-head: First meeting

Speedy 19-year-old qualifier Shenay Perry, who impressed us in her win over Julia Vakulenko yesterday, met her match this afternoon. Nathalie Dechy has usually performed well at this event, and was as good as she needed to be to douse the hopes of the speedy young American.

Perry had all kinds of trouble keeping the ball in play in the early stages, and was being dominated in the rallies by Dechy?s flat and accurate hitting. With Perry trailing 1-4, 15-40, it looked like a rout was on. But she saved that game, and although Perry went on to lose the first set 6-3, the rallies improved and the youngster began to match Dechy shot for shot.

The second set was a tight affair, and Perry was able to display her all-court game and force Dechy to work harder to win points. Perry had just one wobble, a poor service game at 4-4 where she was broken at love. Dechy calmly seized the opportunity, and clinched the win on her second match point with a tastily angled volley.

Dechy, a good performer in the desert (she has beaten Kim Clijsters and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario here in past years), will next face 10th seed Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi in the third round.

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Nadia Petrova (7) def. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Q), 7-5, 6-3
Second round
Court 5
Previous head-to-head: Petrova leads Groenefeld 1-0

Anna-Lena Groenefeld, (pictured at right), the other qualifier we have been spotlighting this week, also bit off more than she could chew. We had reason to believe that this would be a close affair, given that Petrova had been inactive since the Australian Open, recovering from a bout of fatigue. Furthermore, the only previous meeting between the two was a narrow win for Petrova in Leipzig last year, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Petrova looked rusty at the outset, dropping the first 3 games of the match. But she didn?t stay rusty for long. The tall Russian started to find the range with her heavy serves and forehands, won the next four games, and logically dominated the rest of the encounter. Her game opponent stayed aggressive, but was outclassed in the end.

As we followed Groenefeld the last few days, we?ve been wondering if we would see an opponent get annoyed with her frequent fist pumps and cries of ?Come on!? Not surprisingly Petrova, who sometimes has a prickly side to her personality, was the one who got ticked off by the German?s exuberance. After hitting a splendid passing shot to win the first set, Nadia beat her chest and sarcastically shouted ?Come on!? while shooting a withering glare Groenefeld?s way.

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Robin Soderling def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
First round
Court 4
Previous head-to-head: Ljubicic leads 1-0

One of the rising stars in the men?s tournament who is making his Indian Wells début is Swedish teenager Robin Soderling. Ranked 143 just 12 months ago, the 19-year-old native of Tibro has since reached ATP finals in Stockholm and, just two weeks ago, Marseille, and has rocketed into the top 50. Today Soderling proficiently put away a dangerous foe, hard-serving Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.

Since Soderling also has a wicked serve and both were serving well, there was just one break point in the match. It went against Ljubicic, who made a series of errors off his weaker forehand side while serving at 2-3 in the first set.

By all rights Ljubicic ought to have won the second set, since he led the tie-break 5-2 with two serves to come. But the bald Croat coughed up the next two points with baseline errors, and the Swede crawled back to take a 6-5 lead. Ljubicic again made a costly error on Soderling?s first match point, pushing a routine volley long.

It is easy to see why Robin Soderling has been touted as the next great Swedish champion since his junior years. In addition to the potent serve, the youngster has a powerful forehand and a two-handed backhand that is accurate and penetrating. His baseline style is a bit reminiscent of his countryman Thomas Enqvist, except that Soderling stations himself further behind the baseline during rallies, sacrificing court position so he can take a mighty swing at the ball.

Soderling?s chances in the draw are interesting, since his second round opponent will be a good but beatable player, Agustin Calleri. And it?s not inconceivable that Soderling might then engage in a showdown with an even younger teenage phenom, Rafael Nadal. Nadal also made his Indian Wells debut today. The 17-year-old bulldog, clad in a sleeveless red shirt and white bandana, ruthlessly steamrolled an overmatched Lars Burgsmuller, 6-2, 6-2. This sets up an intriguing second-rounder b etween Nadal and the 11th seed, Nicolas ?El Vampiro? Massu.

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Wandering in the desert

Dokic and Hantuchova crash out

The two biggest upsets on the women?s side were not overly surprising, since Daniela Hantuchova (24th seed) and Jelena Dokic (9th seed) have not been strangers to curious early round losses in the past year. We missed Dokic?s 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Gala Leon Garcia, but we did catch the closing moments of Hantuchova?s tortuous 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(3) loss to unheralded Marissa Irvin.

Hantuchova?s defeat was one of those marathon psychodramas that lately have become commonplace for the 2002 Indian Wells champion. She fought off a match point in the third set at 5-4. In the decisive tie-break Irvin took a 3-0 lead and then gave Hantuchova a chance to come back by losing two service points, making the score 3-2. Hantuchova missed a glorious chance to tie the score at 3-3 when Irvin?s shot hit the net cord, popping up and giving Hantuchova a ?sitter? backhand that she contrived to drive i nto the net. Hantuchova then unravelled, and Irvin swept 4 of the next 5 points to close out the upset win.

All told, Hantuchova committed 73 unforced errors, and is showing no signs of getting her once-promising career back on the rails.

Dent delights home crowd

The best ambiance of the day was at Stadium 2, where a large crowd cheered on Californian Taylor Dent to an entertaining 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph over qualifier Giovanni Lapentti. Dent turned in an up-and-down performance, alternating acrobatic volleys and horrible misses, before finally finishing off his game opponent.

Dent?s victory sets the table for an intriguing second-round match with last year?s Pacific Life Open runner-up, Gustavo Kuerten. And yes, there was some good news for the Lapentti family. Giovanni?s better-known older brother Nicolas Lapentti won his match, 6-2, 6-3 over qualifier Federico Browne.

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Quotable quotes

Tommy Haas picked up his first win since October 2002, after missing the entire 2003 season because of shoulder surgery, beating Thomas Enqvist, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. ?It felt really good today actually to play three tough sets. Serving for the first time over 120 miles an hour, it?s a very exciting thing for me. For me it?s like a second career, a second start.?

Ever the comedian, Andy Roddick got off a good line when asked to comment on Lleyton Hewitt?s opinion that in the future, players will have to start learning to get to the net and volley. ?I think he just says that. He wants people to come in so he can pass them. He?s trying to convince everyone else to do it against him.?