Corretja and Williams Rattle Around Down Under

The weight of expectation must have done something to the forehand of Venus Williams and the psyche of Alex Corretja of Spain on opening day here at the Australian Open. Both are in the select group of tournament favorites, new roles, certainly. And it took some time for Corretja and Williams to get the fit just right Monday in the first round.

Corretja needed 3 hours 40 minutes to dispatch a promising 22-year-old from Japan named Takao Suzuki, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. Playing in his first Grand Slam event, the 116th-ranked Suzuki served 20 aces and did not falter until he served for the match at 5-4 in the fourth set. He also squandered a 3-0 lead in the fourth-set tiebreaker.

As for the 18-year-old Williams, she clearly has the talent to win a Grand Slam and many believe the breakthrough could come Down Under. But her forehand was decidedly inconsistent and it nearly cost her against the No. 82-ranked Silvija Talaja of Croatia, winning, 3-6, 6-3, 9-7, despite 87 unforced errors, in 2 hours 30 minutes.

Talaja, 21, was within two points of knocking off the fifth-seeded Williams in the 10th game of the third set. Williams later squandered two match points of her own in the 14th game of the third, serving for the match at 7-6, hitting a forehand in the net and double-faulting on the second. Finally, she won it on her third match point in the 16th game when Talaja netted a forehand.

“I was saying to myself, ‘This is not my fate. This is someone else’s fate. I can’t go out like this,’ ” Williams said of being within two points of losing the match.

“None of my shots were going in. I reverted to things I thought I had gotten rid of, like coming up on my shots. And I didn’t attack short balls.”

Corretja found himself trying to adjust to the speed of the court, coming off a slightly faster surface last week in Sydney, an event which he lost to Todd Martin in the final. It is also the first time he has been seeded second in a Grand Slam event, and with the absence of Pete Sampras and the subpar physical condition of top-seeded Marcel Rios, he is considered one of the favorites. Also he could supplant Sampras at No. 1 by reaching the final.

Suzuki nearly turned those dreams into a nightmare. But once the match went to a fifth set, the superior conditioning of Corretja kicked in and a tiring Suzuki needed attention from a trainer early in the final set.

“I knew he was a tough player to beat, but even so, I was waiting to see if I could get in [the match] with him,” Corretja said. “He was playing perfect tennis, but at the same time I didn’t feel the ball so well.

“I am a really good fighter, even though I don’t play good tennis. Before, I used to say, ‘OK, he’s playing good tennis. I just give up. Now I say, ‘OK, if I am not playing my best tennis, I am going to try to do my best today. Even if it is 50%. I have to take it like this and see if I can win in this situation, and today I did it.”

In other action, two seeded players exited before lunch on the first day--one because of a back injury (No. 11-seeded Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia) and the other after a difficult first-round assignment (No. 13 Irina Spirlea of Romania). Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport of Newport Beach had little trouble in her opening match, defeating Gala Leon Garcia of Spain, 6-2, 6-2.

Ivanisevic, the three-time Wimbledon finalist, injured his back earlier this month at a tournament in Doha, Quatar, and said he was suffering from degeneration of the disk. He asked tournament officials for a Tuesday start, but his request was denied.

“I’ve always played with injuries, and it seems this is the first time I did something smart [by withdrawing],” Ivanisevic said.

Spirlea lost to 18th-ranked Anke Huber of Germany, 7-5, 6-4. Huber, a finalist here in 1997, is trying to rebound after an injury-riddled 1998, in which she missed four months because of foot surgery.

Also attempting to come back after an adverse 1998 is No. 188-ranked Meilen Tu. Tu, who grew up in Northridge and now trains in Tampa, Fla., beat Kimberly Po of Rolling Hills, Calif., 6-2, 6-2, in 56 minutes.

“I’m surprised it was quick,” said Tu, who missed about eight months last year because of a stress fracture in her left foot as well as a wrist injury. “I think I played well and brought her out of her game where she’s not comfortable.”

Tu has remained resolute.

“I’m very hungry since I was out for so long,” she said. “You have a different perspective. You just hope to play again and take what you can get.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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