The women's first round matches begun at Indian Wells under cloudy skies. This tournament always gets off to a rather low-key start: 32 seeds have first round byes, which means that the vast majority of the players who have to dispute first round tilts are relative unknowns. An obvious exception to this rule: Anna Kournikova, who took a turn on the main stadium against American Lilia Osterloh

Kournikova's visit to Indian Wells was very short indeed. Guilty of 11 double faults and 44 unforced errors, the Russian pin-up lasted only an hour against American Lilia Osterloh, who took out Anna 6-1, 6-4 despite 34 unforced errors of her own.

Happily, there were some unseeded players on display today who may not have made videos with Enrique Iglesias, but whose tennis was well worth watching.

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Nathalie Dechy def. Céline Beigbeder, 6-1, 6-0
First round
Stadium 2
Previous head-to-head: first meeting

Aside from Kournikova, one of the unseeded players to watch at Indian Wells was the slender 21-year-old Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy (pictured at right). Dechy likes the conditions here, as she has pulled off significant upsets at Indian Wells the last two years (Kournikova, when she was a seeded favourite in 2000, and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario last year). Nathalie had been a top-20 player on three separate occasions during the 2000 season, but fell off in 2001 to finish the year at #44.

Dechy appears to have recovered her game in 2002. Her year started well, with an upset win over countrywoman Sandrine Testud at the Australian Open. Last week at Scottsdale Dechy had herself a fine week, reaching the semifinal. Nathalie told reporters there that she abandoned experiments with a power game, and has gone back to her natural style, which marries accuracy and placement, with positive results.

Today she had little trouble disposing of countrywoman Céline Beigbeder (#86), 6-1, 6-0, in just 57 minutes. Beigbeder, a late-blooming 26-yearold from France's Basque country who broke out of obscurity last year with a surprising semifinal in her début tour event (Strasbourg), was not in Dechy's league today. Our winner looked extremely sharp, committing few errors, hitting flat and deep, moving her overmatched opponent from side to side, and finding the open court with canny angles. Beigbeder, who ha s just come from two clay court tournaments (including a quarterfinal in Bogotá), seemed a bit lost on the hard courts today.

For our fashion-conscious readers, note that Dechy, who in the past has tended to favour a sleeveless dress look, was attired in a white crew-necked shirt and navy blue skirt. This observer, who felt that the sleeveless dresses unnecessarily accented the slenderness of Dechy's limbs, found the new look very flattering.

Dechy moves on to play top-seeded Kim Clijsters in round two. Given Dechy's excellent current form, we humbly advise Kim to be very, very careful.

Martina Müller def. Mariana Díaz-Oliva, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
First round
Stadium 3
Previous head-to-head: Díaz-Oliva leads 1-0 (a clay Challenger in Ettenheim, 2000)

It certainly didn't take long for the first controversy to strike the tournament. A vigorously disputed coaching warning threw Argentine top-spinner Mariana Díaz-Oliva completely off course, changing the entire allure of the match. Fast-rising German teen Martina Müller took the bull by the horns, and pulled away to defeat her higher-ranked, more experienced opponent

Díaz-Oliva's problems actually started just before the coaching violation when she was holding a 6-4, 4-4 lead. The slim, 26-year-old from Buenos Aires blew a golden opportunity: holding a break point that would have given her a chance to serve out the match, Mariana perfectly anticipated a down-the-line pass? but flubbed a routine forehand volley into the net. Müller saved the game.

During the ensuing changeover, the chair umpire broke the silence with a surprising announcement: "Warning, coaching violation, Díaz-Oliva." The Argentine, with a look of disbelief, leapt to her feet to dispute the allegation that she was receiving illegal coaching from the stands. "I was just sitting here, looking down!", lamented Mariana, accompanying her complaints with copious gesturing. Unable to convince the umpire, Díaz-Oliva called for the tournament supervisor, Brenda Perry, to adjudicate.

At this stage we wondered whether Mariana should perhaps just let the incident slide and get back to the match: no penalty point had been incurred, and she was getting herself all worked up for nothing at a crucial point of the match. But this was obviously a question of principle for the Argentine.

Needless to say, Díaz-Oliva lost the lengthy argument. With it, she lost her focus, and went on to lose the next 8 games and the match.

The momentous collapse of Díaz-Oliva aside, the 19-year-old Müller is an interesting player to watch. Martina is a feisty 5' 5" (1.65 m) speedster who is given to German-language self-recriminations and who cuffs the ball with impressive velocity given her smallish size. Combative on every point, she looks for openings to either nail a forehand winner, or approach and finish the point with crisp volleys. The youngster is rising fast, having reached the top 100 earlier this year, and is now located at #8 3. It will be interesting to see how the sparkplug from Sehnde fares against sixth-seeded Meghann Shaughnessy in the second round. Shaughnessy is coming off a second round loss to Dechy in Scottsdale last week, and we'll sure Müller will be scrapping and battling.

Cara Black def. Selima Sfar, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
First round
Stadium 3
Previous head-to-head: first meeting

This was one of the final matches of the day, and quite probably the best of the lot. It was a pleasure to see Zimbabwe's Cara Black and Tunisia's Selima Sfar, players who use the whole court and are not afraid to move forward as well as side to side, duelling for three well-played sets. Finally, Cara's best was just a little too good for Selima, who can still be proud of a fine showing in defeat.

The net-rushing Sfar showed off her improvement -- particularly on her one-handed backhand side -- in the early stages of the first set, taking a quick 3-0 lead. "I really came out flat, not really moving my legs" admitted Cara after the match. "Plus, she took it right to me, charging in all the time, and made it difficult for me to find a groove." Black started getting her teeth into the proceedings as the set went on, finding the range with some nicely angled passing shots, and finally pulled even at 4-4. But the Zimbabwean lost the set when serving at 4-5, when a forehand down the line landed just wide on Sfar's second set point.

The second set saw Black begin to rush forward more often herself, in an attempt to beat her troublesome Tunisian opponent to the net. "At the beginning I thought I was staying back too much," commented Cara, "but then I started giving her a little bit of her own medicine." The only break of serve in the set came at 3-3: Black moved forward consistently and Sfar was broken at love, notably sending several attempted passing shots into the net. The frustrated Selima turned and tossed the ball in the air a s if she were about to smash the ball out of the stadium. But she thought better of it while the ball was in mid-air, swung, and intentionally missed. Black, now moving well and playing assertively, went on to consolidate the break, take the set 6-4 and level the match.

In the deciding set, Sfar regrouped to take an early 2-0 lead on a spectacular running forehand pass. This time it was Black's turn to show the frustration, and the normally mild-mannered Zimbabwean smashed her racquet onto the court, earning a warning from the umpire for racquet abuse. After the match, Black sounded almost embarrassed by the tantrum: "I shouldn't do that, but I was a little frustrated. I deserved the warning." Black's reaction was positive, however, as she kept up the strong attackin g play to level the set at 2-2.

The key break came at 3-3, Sfar serving. Selima mis-hit a forehand out to give Black a break point, which Cara immediately converted by finishing off a long rally with a strong forehand approach and tastily angled volley. Black held the lead until the end, cashing in on her second match point with another perfect volley winner.

Make the final 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Black earns a second round date with #23 seed Cristina Torrens Valero, who is more comfortable on clay than on hard courts. Looking ahead to the matchup, the personable Black sees it as a good opportunity to put a halt to skid that has sent her ranking out of the top 50 to #84. "The courts here are play a little slower, which might help her. I think it's 50-50 and I'm just looking forward to playing."

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Wandering in the desert

Sharapova shows her stuff

Russian Maria Sharapova is the latest heavily-promoted Eastern European to come out of Nick Bolleteri's Florida tennis factory. The 14-year-old has already received substantial media exposure thanks her hard-working agents at IMG, who confidently but rather vaguely proclaim in material given to the press that Maria is "viewed by many tennis experts as a likely top-ten professional player." Unlike the infamous Monique Viel case, however, there is substance in this hype. Sharapova was the yo ungest junior finalist in the Australian Open history, just two months ago.

A hard-hitting baseliner with composure surprising for a player so young, and a shrieking grunt that would do Monica Seles or the Williams sisters proud, the gangly, 5' 9" Russian justified her wild card with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 win over an error-prone Brie Rippner. It was her first win on the WTA tour. It will be interesting to see what kind of a match Sharapova can give her second round opponent, who will be none other than Seles.