Highly Touted Teen Wins As Australian Open Begins

The Australian Open began Monday on a gorgeous summer day, not too hot, not too humid and just right for Mirjana Lucic, one of the most promising teens in tennis, to win in her debut at the year’s first Grand Slam event.

An intimidating player from Croatia who stands halfway between the service box and the baseline while receiving serve, the 15-year-old Lucic crushed returns in a 7-5, 6-1 win before her serve-and-volley opponent, Rennae Stubbs, could even think of charging the net.

Another teen with great promise, 16-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt, tumbled out in his first match just eight days after he won his first ATP Tour event. Hewitt fell to Daniel Vacek 6-2, 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, 6-3.

Lucic got away with crowding the service box on returns against Stubbs, a good player who is still rusty after an eight-month layoff last year because of a wrist injury. But Stubbs didn’t think the strategy will work against better players.

“I don’t think it’s smart of her to do it on first serves,” Stubbs said. “If you stand back, you get more angle. When I did serve well, she wasn’t doing anything at all. The better players will work that out. The second serve is a different story. She just climbs all over the ball. I wasn’t about to chip and charge on second serve against her or I might find I’d have a few bruises on my body.”

In other early matches, No. 4 Jonas Bjorkman and No. 6 Petr Korda won their openers, while women’s No. 8 Conchita Martinez and No. 16 Ruxandra Draomir also advanced. No. 12 Sabine Appelmans became the first seeded player to lose, falling to Natasha Zvereva in three sets.

A year ago, an obscure player shook the Australian Open by becoming the first man in 20 years to knock out the defending champion in the opening round.

Pete Sampras, the defending men’s champion and top seed this year, is on alert not to succumb to the same fate that befell Boris Becker last year.

Sampras’ first-round opponent is Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, every bit as unknown as Carlos Moya was last year when he beat Becker in five sets.