Today marked the final round of women's qualifying for this year's Indian Wells tournament.

The competition, with a new sponsor, is now officially known as the Pacific Life Open. Perhaps the Pacific Lite Open might be a more appropriate moniker, at least on the women's side. This event is nominally one of the elite American tourneys, but the women's draw is bereft of some of the top American drawing cards. Jennifer Capriati is skipping this reason for mysterious reasons, perhaps related to unhappy personal experiences in this part of California in the past. Venus and Serena Williams are presu mably boycotting the event because of the jeers they endured after Venus withdrew just minutes before a scheduled semifinal match with Serena. Finally, Lindsay Davenport, particularly popular in her native California, is recovering from a knee injury.

The participants in the qualifying event had to vie for the fans' attention with the star players who did show up, many of whom are already in town and were working hard on the practice courts. We noted a popular hitting session between Jelena Dokic and Elena Dementieva. Justine Henin was on the scene, being drilled by her coach Carlos Rodrigues, who was urging his pupil to step forward while striking service returns. Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, hitting with brother Emilio, was a popular figure. And some of the men (who don't start their tournament for six more days!) are already here. 2000 runner-up Thomas Enqvist was getting acclimatized to the site early, hitting with Karol Kucera.

Monica Seles, the fourth seed, is also getting used to the unique desert conditions. Seles also took some time to meet with reporters this afternoon. Before checking out our valiant qualifiers, let's check in on Monica's current state of mind.

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Monica speaks

Monica Seles (pictured at right) appeared quite chipper and in good spirits as she met with a small gathering of reporters. Herewith, some of her thoughts:

• On the rather particular playing conditions at Indian Wells: "A lot of players don't like playing here, because of the altitude and the way the ball flies. I thought after last year, 'I'm never going to come back here myself,'" Seles joked, in a reference to her second round loss to Tathiana Garbin last year, "but decided to give it another shot. I came earlier this year to train and prepare a little bit."
• On the ever-changing Fed Cup format, which has gone back to a Davis Cup style playoff system combined with a season-ending four-team tournament: "I wish they would just stick with one format, whatever it is. It's hard enough for the players, let alone the fans."
• On the top players who elected to skip this tournament: "I think the tour has to look at why they are missing. There are different reasons for each player." Should the WTA adopt a system similar to the men's tour, which penalizes players who skip its elite tournaments by giving them an zero points that count against their ranking? "I think the WTA is looking at a lot of options?. But you're always going to have players who don't like certain tournaments, or something happens, and they're just not going t o come no matter what."
• Monica would like to see a ranking system that privileges fewer tournaments and does not encourage players to overplay, thereby risking injury. "I really liked it the way it was in the early '90s, with 12 or 13 tournaments including the Grand Slams. To have the big names healthy, it's much better."
• Finally, the matter of most pressing importance. Monica, an avid investor, was asked about her current investment strategy in light of the downturn in the stock market. "Stocks and treasury bills, probably both equally." What stocks does she like? "You don't want to know," she laughed. "They're not doing very well""

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The valiant qualifiers

For our more modestly ranked heroines, the main order of business was the qualifying tournament, which wound up this afternoon. Here are the successful survivors, along with their first round main draw opponents. We lead off with a Dane who impressed us mightily over the past few days.

Eva Dyrberg
will play Zsofia Gubacsi (Q)

Dyrberg, an athletic and talented player out of Denmark, was the biggest revelation of the qualifying tournament. Eva boasts a cracking inside-out forehand, effective serve, and a focussed on-court demeanour. She is also not shy about venturing to the net on occasion, where she displayed a capable backhand volley. The Dane, who reached her first-ever tour quarterfinal in Antwerp last month, looked top-notch in disposing of Italy's Antonella Serra-Zanetti and American Samantha Reeves in two high quality qualifying matches yesterday and today, both in straight sets. We were curious to learn more about this impressive youngster.

Dyrberg had been a very good junior, and is somewhat belatedly (she turned 22 last month) making some headway in the pros this year. "First I had to finish school [the Danish equivalent of high school]," Dyrberg told us after her match when asked about her slow start in the pros. "And after that it was tough because there is a big difference on the senior tour compared to the juniors, and I wasn't getting wild cards coming from Denmark. So I had to start at the beginning and come all the way up, and no w I'm happy I'm here," chuckled the Dane with her ready smile.

While Denmark has two players on the men's tour ? Kenneth Carlsen and former junior #1 Kristian Pless -- a Danish female tennis pro is something of a novelty. "My family played and I started to play too," explained Dyrberg. "But it's true, I think I'm the only [Danish] player in the top 500." Dyrberg feels that it's only a matter of time before we see more players from her country on the tour. "I think we have a good structure."

The blonde-haired Dyrberg has set some short-term goals for herself this year. "I'd like to get into the top 50. Now I'm just a bit out of the top 100, so I'm looking forward to get inside it!" To our eyes, the rising young Dane has top-50 potential and more. She will have a fighting chance to win a match in the main draw, as she will play fellow qualifier Zsofia Gubacsi in the first round.

Note that Samantha Reeves, who put forth a strong effort in a losing cause against Dyrberg today, makes the main draw as a lucky loser.

Mashona Washington
will play Miriam Oremans

Mashona Washington does well to qualify here, with a good 6-4 6-0 win over the ambidextrous Evgenia Koulikovskaya. Koulikovskaya, as you may know, switches her racquet from one hand to the other and plays nothing but forehands. But she plays a very defensive brand of tennis for the most part, and the more assertive Washington kept the Russian under constant pressure. Sadly, the dispirited Russian put forth little effort after dropping the first set.

Jelena Kostanic
will play Marlene Weingärtner

Silvija Talaja
will play Irina Selyutina

Sandra Kleinova
will play Erika De Lone

Virginie Razzano
will play Iva Majoli

Angelika Roesch
will play Jana Nejedly

The unseeded Roesch was a rather surprising winner over #17 seed María José Martínez. Martínez, a Spanish lefty highly regarded when she came onto the pro scene, has struggled of late. Visibly low on confidence, she shot herself in the foot repeatedly with costly errors.

Nuria Llagostera Vives
will play Amy Frazier

Stephanie Foretz
will play Jennifer Hopkins

Frenchwoman Foretz notched what has to be considered an upset today over 8th seed María Emilia Salerni. Salerni started strong, but seemed to run out of energy halfway through the match. The dark-haired, dark-complexioned Foretz, who has a smooth two-handed backhand and an explosive but erratic forehand, kept her energy level high and took a 2-6 6-3 6-1 decision. We noted that Foretz is one of the few players who wear eyeglasses on the court.

Greta Arn
will play Rita Kuti Kis

Zsofia Gubacsi
will play Eva Dyrberg (Q)

Ludmila Cervanova
will play Janette Husarova

Join us the next two weeks for daily reports from Indian Wells.