Williams Shapes Up

Everybody into the pool.

Had the U.S. Open turned into “Baywatch?” Fashionista and top-seeded Serena Williams, courageously clad in a skin-tight black Lycra suit with a lot of leg showing, said not.

“Of course not. This is more of a cat suit,” she said. “It’s not a wet suit.”

This was a disjointed, if not magical, Monday night at the U.S. Open. Shortly after an emotional, uplifting opening ceremony on the Stadium Court honoring the heroes and survivors of Sept. 11--soundtrack by Tony Bennett and Queen Latifah and punctuated by fireworks--Williams emerged looking like a biker, black leather jacket over the outfit, took it off and morphed into Catwoman.

Catwoman with pink shoes, that is.

She had nine aces, hit 26 winners and defeated Corina Morariu, 6-2, 6-3, in the first round in 69 minutes.

“It makes me run faster and jump higher and it’s really sexy,” Williams said. “It really sticks to what type of shape you have. If you don’t have a decent shape, this isn’t the best outfit to have.”

Many were left stammering for words, including television announcers and Williams’ opponent, Morariu, who was playing in her first Grand Slam event since going into remission after being diagnosed with leukemia in May 2001.

“I think she looks great,” Morariu said. “I mean, geez. You know, I couldn’t pull that off!”

Morariu laughed. Minutes before, she cried in the interview room when she was asked if she could have imagined being back at the U.S. Open. Last year, she was here as a guest, looking pale and wearing a bandana to cover her hair loss. She was in New York a few days before returning home for more chemotherapy.

“At this time last year I think I was getting ready to leave. I get emotional just talking about it,” she said, choking up. “So I didn’t think I’d ever be back here.

“There are days when you feel so bad and things get so difficult that you don’t ever think you’re going to be able to do the things you used to be able to do.”

The best news Morariu could have heard came less than two hours before the match. Her father, a neurologist, called her to tell her the results of her bone marrow test from last week.

“The cancer is still in remission,” she said. “So that was the best reason to celebrate for today.”

It was fitting that Morariu played in the featured night match on the first day of the Open, considering the circumstances. “It was a very emotional night all around,” she said. “I was in the hospital on Sept. 11 for two weeks. I watched every minute of television coverage on it. It was hard for me. It didn’t seem like there was anything good in the world. I think we all have reason to celebrate.”

That was clearly the theme. Williams hugged Morariu at the net, and later said it was difficult to play her friend. They spoke several times during Morariu’s battle with leukemia.

Morariu’s close friend and former doubles partner, Lindsay Davenport, who had knee surgery in January, played her first Grand Slam match of the year, beating Eva Dyrberg of Denmark, 6-2, 6-1.

“I was really excited for the tournament to start,” said Davenport, seeded fourth. “I felt like last week I made huge strides in pretty much every aspect of my game.”

No one seeded among the first 16 lost. James Blake, seeded 25th, had trouble against wild-card entrant Brian Vahaly. Blake won, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3, 7-6 (5), but cramped in the fourth set and needed treatment on his shoulder.

“For a while, I was sneaking under people’s radars,” said Blake, who won his first ATP tournament earlier this month at Washington, D.C. “Unfortunately I don’t think I can do that anymore. My hair might be too long. They see me coming now. But I feel like there is a little bit of pressure on me since there aren’t as many guys coming up like [Pete] Sampras and [Andre] Agassi when they were coming up.”

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

U.S. Open at a Glance

Highlights of Monday’s play at the $16.17-million U.S. Open tennis championships:

Weather: Partly cloudy and mild with a high of 83.

Men’s seeded winners: No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 8 Albert Costa, No. 13 Roger Federer, No. 14 Jiri Novak, No. 20 Younes El Aynaoui, No. 22 Marcelo Rios, No. 25 James Blake and No. 32 Max Mirnyi.

Women’s seeded winners: No. 4 Lindsay Davenport, No. 5 Jelena Dokic, No. 8 Justine Henin, No. 11 Daniela Hantuchova, No. 12 Elena Dementieva and No. 15 Anastasia Myskina.

Today’s featured matches: Men--Lleyton Hewitt (1), Australia, vs. Nicolas Coutelot, France; Martin Verkerk, Netherlands, vs. Andy Roddick (11).

Women--Mirjana Lucic, Croatia, vs. Venus Williams (2); Bethanie Mattek vs. Jennifer Capriati (3).