Today?s first round action at the Masters Series Canada was marred by a trio of rain delays. Play was held up twice during the day session, and, as the organizers attempted to cram all the scheduled matches in during the evening, a light shower stopped play on the outside courts shortly before 11:00 PM. Three of these matches were suspended, to be completed tomorrow. Tommy Robredo, the 16th seed, and David Nalbandian lead by a set and a break over Hyung-Taik Lee and Jarkko Niemin en, respectively, while wild card Daniel Nestor and Robby Ginepri are deadlocked at one set all.

A word to those unfamiliar with our reports. In the opening rounds we focus most of our attention on the outer courts, covering interesting matches that might go unreported in most other news media. And of course, to work on our tan! Although we soaked up more rain than rays today?

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José Acasuso def. Fabrice Santoro, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
First round
Court 2
Previous head-to-head: First meeting

This promised to be an interesting duel between two contrasting, unseeded players. It matched the finesse of ?The Magician?, 30 year old Santoro, against the muscular, hard-hitting 20 year old ?Chucho? Acasuso (pictured at right). Finally the power and precision of the Argentine?s serves, returns and passing shots prevailed in three sets. In truth, Acasuso could and should have won more easily, were it not for his poor play immediately after the two rain delays that punctuated the match.

The encounter didn?t get too far along -- 2-2 after an exchange of breaks, 30-15 on Acasuso?s serve -- before the rain arrived as the meteorologists had promised. We don?t know whether or not the 79th-ranked Acasuso had too much coffee during the delay, but when play resumed after 1 hour, 45 minutes, he was over-hitting his big shots badly, and foot-faulting to boot (his left foot always flirted dangerously with the baseline and he foot-faulted 8 times today). The Argentine was also forced into errors by Santoro?s well-executed serve-volley and return-volley tactics. Santoro broke serve and won the next three games as well, to run to a 6-2 lead.

Acasuso looked like he might be fixing to make a quick exit in the first game of set two. He fell behind 0-30, and furiously slammed his racquet. This angry gesture may have allowed ?Chucho? to release some tension, because from this point on he began to play better and fight harder. He saved 2 break points in this game, and another at 1-1, before breaking Santoro at 2-1 on the strength of a mighty forehand return. Using his cannon serve to good effect, Acasuso held easily the rest of the set as the sun came out. With the doomed Gustavo Kuerten?s moaning grunts on the adjoining court providing background ambience, the match was now level.

Sadly, the sun left as quickly as it came and the rain returned, with some thunder this time, causing another delay at the start of the third set. This stoppage again lasted about two hours. As was the case after the first rain delay, Acasuso came out and played poorly, being broken at love in game two and falling behind 0-3. ?The same mistakes as he made in the first set,? said Fabrice?s coach, who was seated behind us. But at 4-2 ?Chucho? won the break back much as he did in the second set, with a str ong forehand return at 15-40. From this point on Acasuso?s power was unstoppable as Santoro wilted under the pressure. At 4-4 Acasuso broke Santoro again thanks to an inside-out forehand pass accompanied by a ?VAMOS!?. The Argentine went on to serve out the match confidently, overpowering the Frenchman with a victorious backhand drive on match point.

Acasuso?s hard-earned 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph was greeted with glee by an annoying Acasuso fan, who had let forth ear-splitting screams of ?YEAH! BIG TIME!? after almost every point that went the Argentine?s way, whether by a winner or a Santoro error. An offended female spectator made a point to scold the fan after the match, ?You have no class!? The man, silent for once, did not respond, but his friend spoke for him: ?He knows!?

José Acasuso now seems to have a break in the draw. He moves on to face local wild card Simon Larose in Wednesday?s second round. Larose took out 13th-seeded Gustavo Kuerten, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2), in the late evening match. Canadian Davis Cupper Larose, stoked to the max for his annual Canadian Open wild card, was as Kuerten put it after the loss, ?pretty much inspired?. The error-prone ?Guga? was anything but inspired, driving a number of fairly routine balls out or into the net, and looked out of sorts all match.

Younes El Aynaoui d. Mardy Fish, 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3
First round
Court 1
Previous head-to-head: First meeting

We arrived midway through the first set of another ?geezer versus whippersnapper? tilt, pitting the popular 31-year-old Moroccan El Aynaoui against Fish, the rapidly-improving 21-year-old out of the USA. It turned out to be a close battle between players with similar styles -- big serves, big forehands and sometimes suspect backhands. The Moroccan?s stronger nerves in the clutch won out in the end.

El Aynaoui, who did not face a break point in the first set, scored the only break at 4-3 when a Fish backhand at 15-40 sailed long. El Aynaoui comfortably served out the set. We had the pleasure of sitting beside one of Montreal?s foremost tennis connoisseurs, ?Johnny?, who watched the match from the beginning. Johnny said he smelled a three-setter, despite El Aynaoui?s 6-3 lead. ?Younes isn?t totally in the zone,? Johnny explained.

As it turned out, Johnny was right, although we had to go though some dramatics before his prescience was confirmed. The quality of play improved as the match went on, although Fish?s serving problems never really resolved themselves (just 47% first serves in during the match). Each man faced just one break point in the second set. Fish, wearing a red, white and blue headband, baggy black shorts and black socks and shoes, saved his at 2-2 with a serve-volley play, while El Aynaoui did likewise with a serv e-big forehand at 3-2. In the tie-break Fish had to fight off one match point at 6-5, which he did thanks to a fine serve-volley play. Mardy then took the upper hand -- he missed two glorious chances to end it on his first two set points, bricking an easy volley at 7-6 and driving a ?sitter? short forehand into the net at 8-7. But the American finally did the job at 9-8 with a resolutely-struck backhand down-the-line winner, and the match was level.

A dispirited El Aynaoui opened the third set with a double fault and dropped his serve at 15. We missed the game, since we had gone to arrange a post-match interview with the winner and to fetch a turkey wrap for Johnny. But Johnny reported, ?It was an uninspired game by Younes, and it looks like he might be cramping." El Aynaoui admitted after the match that he was tired, but affirmed that he was not feeling the onset of cramps. ?No, nothing in my muscles, just my whole body was exhausted. Then I eat a little something and I was better.?

The re-energized Moroccan regrouped after the change of ends, and rode a series of scalding forehand winners to draw back to even terms, breaking Fish at 2-1. The wobbling Fish finally snapped at 4-3, as three costly baseline errors, one a forehand that popped off the frame at 30-30, allowed El Aynaoui another precious break and the chance to serve for the match. ?It?s trunk-slamming time,? exclaimed Johnny, explaining that this was a pet expression of former Canadian Open champion Chris Woodruff. El Aynaoui indeed slammed that trunk shut, serving out the match at love, concluding emphatically with a potent service winner down the ?t?.

El Aynaoui told us after the match that he was not completely satisfied with his match. ?I was happy with the way I played in the first set. But then I was waiting a bit and seeing how he was going to react. And in the third I was tired with the heat, sweating so much.? He also conceded that the talented American was an awkward opponent to play. ?He has a big serve and goes for big shots all the time. But when the pressure is on and the points start being important, it?s tougher to put those ones in. Tha t?s what can make you lose a match.?

The affable Moroccan?s second round opponent will be the winner of tomorrow?s confrontation between second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero and qualifier Cyril Saulnier. El Aynaoui would not mind playing Ferrero. ?You won?t believe it, I?ve beaten Ferrero six or seven times,? said Younes with a grin. To be exact, the record is six wins to no losses. ?I?ve beaten him on clay, I?ve beaten him everywhere!? But he would not be surprised to be facing Saulnier, whom he knows well via his close connections with the French tennis scene. ?I think he is the guy who qualified the most for tournaments last year. He?s not that young, but he has the experience and knows how to win matches. Ferrero?s gonna have a tough one.?

We?ll soon know who it will be, since Ferrero-Saulnier is the first match up on the stadium court tomorrow. The exhausted El Aynaoui agreed enthusiastically with our suggestion that he would be happy to have the day off tomorrow. ?Yes! Yes!?, he smiled.

By the way, El Aynaoui told us so many interesting things in our wide-ranging post-match chat that we will carry a profile of the Moroccan star on Friday.

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Montreal Morsels

Clément outruns Moya

World number four Carlos Moya, like his good friend and fellow ex-number one Kuerten, did not have a very lengthy stay in the singles competition. Moya ran into a dangerous first round opponent, the speedy little Frenchman Arnaud Clément, and the Frenchman battled his way to a 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3 upset win. ?The last time I played on hard courts was in Miami [in March],? noted the Spanish star. ?I don?t like to play him either,? he added. ?I think he has a good game to beat me.? Kuerten a nd Moya were the only casualties among the six seeds who were in action today, and both were in the top half of the draw. Perhaps a benediction for top seed Andre Agassi, who cruised to 6-4, 6-2 triumph over wild card Frédéric Niemeyer in the first match of the evening session.

?Sebass? still in view

Sébastien Lareau had been a fixture at the Canadian Open for most of the past decade. The Montrealer had some nice moments in the Canadian Open, notably upset wins over Richard Krajicek here and Gustavo Kuerten in Toronto, as well as a doubles title in 2000. He is still very much in view at his home tournament, but not as a player this year. The 2000 Olympic gold medallist, who retired at the end of last season, is working as a commentator for the telecasts on Canada?s French-languag e sports channel, RDS.

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Quotable quotes

One of our hard-hearted Canadian reporters did his best to make Paradorn Srichaphan say he was disappointed with his loss in the Indianapolis final to Andy Roddick two weeks ago. But the perpetually cheerful Thai would have none of it. ?Roddick is playing well, he can beat anybody right now. I?m glad I had a good week in Indy. So it?s not bad,? concluded Paradorn with a laugh,

The beaten Gustavo Kuerten, who arrived late Saturday from last week?s Los Angeles tournament, noted in his press conference, ?I had only one day yesterday to get ready for the match? It is more to do with getting used to the balls, the surface.? When asked if it made any sense to be changing the balls used from one tourney to another, ?Guga? noted with more than a hint of irony, ?If you think about this, it is no sense too, why we play two Masters Series in a row. It is a lot of things without se nse in the tour.?