Overcast skies and muggy humidity greeted the opening day of qualifying at the Tennis Masters Canada. If the weather forecasts are correct, we had better be ready for some delays this year, since rain is predicted for much of the first week.

As always during ?qualies?, many fans would rather watch the stars of the main draw hone their games on the practice court. The biggest crowd we saw was standing three deep to watch Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, who was practicing with Canadian Simon Larose. Federer, who has had three weeks off since reaching the final in Gstaad the week after his Wimbledon run, has been in town for a couple of days, getting used to the conditions. Another particularly large crowd was assembled for a sp arring session between Gastón Gaudio and Montreal?s most famous tennis export, Greg Rusedski. Rusedski seemed particularly loose, his well-known toothy smile in ample evidence. Happy to be home????

Some well-known players could also be seen in competition, in today?s qualifying matches.

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Michael Llodra (FRA) d. (6)Todd Martin (USA), 6-3 6-4

Montreal will probably not have any more chances to see the 33-year-old American Todd Martin, for whom retirement is surely around the corner. The popular Martin drew a tough qualifying opponent in Michael Llodra, the French lefty serve-volleyer. Known primarily for his doubles accomplishments alongside Davis Cup team-mate Fabrice Santoro, Llodra tragically lost his mother earlier this year. He is just getting back to the swing of things on the tour. We hoped this would be a fine match between two players who have all-court games and venture often to net. There were some good moments, but Martin was too sloppy and sluggish at the wrong times to hope to win against a sharp adversary.

The tall, greying American got off to a slow start, mistiming his returns and volleys too often. The incisive Frenchman made Martin pay and broke early, taking a 3-0 lead. Martin?s game slowly picked up as the set progressed, but Llodra was backing up his serve effectively and kept his break to rack up the first set, 6-3.

Martin broke Llodra for the first time early in the second frame. But he surrendered the advantage at 3-1, as on break point Llodra struck one of the many fine passing shots he hit today off his excellent one-handed backhand. Martin effectively lost the match at 4-4. He found himself at 30-30 after giving away two points on a poor drop shot and a routine overhead dumped into the net. Llodra struck another fine backhand pass to earn a break point. The Frenchman converted it with a second serve chip and ch arge return that forced an unsuccessful Martin passing attempt. Despite the sympathetic crowd?s attempt to rally Martin one last time, Llodra served out the match confidently, nailing his 10th ace on his first match point.

Martin?s best showing in Montreal was back in 1993, when the then-23-year-old memorably upset Boris Becker and Andre Agassi, and finished as runner-up to Mikael Pernfors. After today?s match, a reporter for a Montreal daily told me he had requested an interview with Martin, but was informed that Todd had made an extremely quick getaway and had already left the Jarry Tennis Centre site? almost certainly for the final time.

(3)Hicham Arazi (pictured at right) d. Nicolás Todero (ARG), 6-4 6-4

Another popular veteran we are unaccustomed to seeing in a qualifying draw is the devilishly talented left-hander Hicham Arazi. The 29 year old Moroccan?s ranking dropped precipitously from 25th to 89th last year after he completely lost his motivation. Early this year he dropped out of the top 100. ?I was totally unfocused and I just spent time with my friends in Paris doing nothing special," explained Arazi earlier this year in Dubai. Sporting a shaved head these days, Hicham now sits at No. 79 and is attempting to rediscover his old winning ways.

Today Arazi faced an Argentine grinder, 24 year old Nicolás Todero, the author of two Futures tournament wins this season. Todero proved to be a game opponent. He ran tirelessly, and showed a very good first serve (although he was prone to double faults today) as well as a strong inside-out forehand. But Arazi was able to summon the magic today when he needed to. He treated the Court One fans -- who included a number of members of Montreal?s sizable Moroccan community and one lone Todero supporter wearin g an Argentine football jersey -- to some spectacular running winners, pinpoint lobs, and his trademark, elaborate between-point racquet twirling.

Todero was nothing if not stubborn against the Moroccan sorcerer. In the second set he saved a break point at 2-2 thanks to a swinging volley, and in his next service game fought back from 0-40 down, finally pulling out the game with back to back aces. At 4-4 he again fell behind 0-40, but this time the Argentine could not escape again, dumping a forehand in the net to hand Arazi the break he needed. Hicham made good on his second match point, thanks -- fittingly -- to a classy, delicate volley.

Arazi?s matchup tomorrow with another talented lefty on the comeback trail -- Scott Draper -- should be worth a detour.

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Today's qualifying fixtures

Here are the complete first round qualifying results in draw order. The closest match was Ramón Delgado?s third set tie-break win over Wayne Arthurs. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of play we saw from Delgado, who has just recently come back on tour after recovering from wrist surgery. The Paraguayan was ripping returns and passing shots with abandon. Arthurs, who lives and dies with his formidable serve, finally died by it: at 5-5 in the decisive tie-break he double faulted, giving Delgado a match point that he converted thanks to a solid serve and put-away forehand. Note also that a Canadian wild card won, since this is rare in Canadian Open qualifying. It was big-serving Matt Klinger, an Arizona State University graduate out of Toronto, who surprised Switzerland?s Ivo Heuberger.

(1)Nicolas Massu (CHI) d. (WC)Philip Gubenco (CAN), 6-7, 6-2, 6-3
(ALT)Wayne Black (ZIM - replaces Paul Goldstein) d. Noam Okun (ISR), 6-4, 6-2
(2)Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) d. Andres Pedroso (USA), 7-6 (7-0), 6-4
Bob Bryan (USA) d. (10)Wesley Moodie (RSA), 6-3, 6-3
(3)Hicham Arazi (MAR) d. Nicolas Todero (ARG), 6-4, 6-4
(9)Scott Draper (AUS) d. Jaymon Crabb (AUS), 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)
(4)Karol Beck (SVK) d. (WC)Sanjin Sadovich (CAN), 6-1, 6-3
(11)Thomas Enqvist (SWE) d. Nenad Zimonjic (YUG), 6-2, 6-3
Ramon Delgado (PAR) d. (5)Wayne Arthurs (AUS), 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)
(14)Peter Luczak (AUS) d. Glenn Weiner (USA), 6-4, 6-7, 6-3
Michael Llodra (FRA) d. (6)Todd Martin (USA), 6-3, 6-4
(WC)Matt Klinger (CAN) d. (12)Ivo Heuberger (SUI), 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Grégory Carraz (FRA) d. Gaston Etlis (ARG), 6-4, 6-4
(16)Harel Levy (ISR) d. Michael Joyce (USA), 6-4, 6-2
(8)Cyril Saulnier (FRA) d. Amir Hadad (ISR), 6-2, 6-3
(13)Jiri Vanek (CZE) d. (WC)Dejan Cvetkovic (CAN), 6-7 (1-7), 7-5, 6-1

Please join us for daily reports from Montreal throughout the tournament.