MIAMI - Favored players
like Greg Rusedski had to struggle to make things revert
to plan on Day 1 of the Nasdaq-100 Open on Wednesday.
Going by the book is the
last thing women's top seed Amelie Mauresmo wants when she
starts play this week.
Let alone going by the
bookies.
The folks at
GamblersPalace.com,
for example, could tell her she's listed at odds of 6-1 to
win it all. In comparison, three-time tournament champ
Serena Williams, the No. 3 seed, is the favorite at 2-1.
Second seed Maria Sharapova is 5-1. Even Kim Clijsters,
ranked No. 38 but coming off a win at Indian Wells, rates
5-1 odds.
Mauresmo knows why. She
has never made it past the fourth round in Miami.
"It's never been the
right time for me here," she said.
For a while, it did not
look like the right time for Rusedski, the big-serving
Briton. He lost a stormy first set against No. 143-ranked
Andreas Seppi of Italy, but after a 1-hour, 33-minute rain
delay, Rusedski claimed their first-round match 4-6, 6-4,
6-4.
"I didn't want to go out
in the first round," Rusedski said. "I have a lot of pride
out there."
Rusedski, ranked No. 42,
called conditions in the first set "probably the most
difficult I've ever faced, with the wind and lightning."
Things were tough all
over. Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, a former No. 1 now
ranked 85, took issue with a question about why he beat
18-year-old American Brendan Evans, a wild-card entry,
6-2, 6-4 instead of 6-1, 6-1.
"He served 130 mph,"
Ferrero said. "You think it's easy to return this serve?
You think so? You think it's that easy?"
OK, maybe not. No.
113-ranked Jamea Jackson, a rising young American player
who advanced three rounds into Indian Wells, found that
nothing came easy in a 6-3, 6-2, first-round loss to No.
89-ranked Kristina Brandi.
"It's still up and down
for me right now," said Jackson, 18. "I need to get to
know the players and do better at the next tourney."
That's the plan, more or
less, for Mauresmo in Miami. Tournament wins in Berlin,
Rome and elsewhere helped her become the first French
player to achieve a world No. 1 ranking last year. She is
No. 2 now, but took over the top seed here when No. 1
Lindsay Davenport chose to sit out. Mauresmo is not
worrying about who thinks she is the favorite.
"I'm one of the
favorites," she said. "You have lots of players here who
can play well and hold the trophy at this tournament. I am
one of them."
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