Davenport and Henin enjoy ideal looseners

Having spent eight months in the background, rehabilitating after knee surgery, Lindsay Davenport played her first Grand Slam match of the year yesterday. The former Wimbledon women's singles champion had an ideal loosener in the first round the United States Open, defeating Eva Dryberg, of Denmark, 6-2, 6-1, in only 41 minutes.

Davenport's appearance in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the scene of her US Open triumph in 1998, followed an equally one-sided opening match in which Justine Henin, of Belgium, defeated the American Samantha Reeves, 6-1, 6-2. Henin, the runner-up to Venus Williams at Wimbledon last year, has not enjoyed the best of health at the major tournaments this season. The eighth seed won in 67 minutes. There was so little to discuss about the course of the match that Henin was asked if she liked her opponent's lilac dress. "Yeah," she said.

The opening matches on Stadium Court were typical of the early sparring sessions of the leading women players. Out on Court 11, Elena Dementieva, of Russia, the 12th seed, accounted for Saori Obata, of Japan, 6-2, 6-4. Spectators on Court 18 saw Bea Bielik, a 21-year-old American wild card whose only previous event this year was a Challenger tournament, hit four straight aces to complete a 6-4, 6-4 win against Renata Voracova, a Czech qualifier.

Albert Costa, of Spain, who missed Wimbledon in order to go on honeymoon after winning the French Open in June, opened proceedings in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the second of the show courts, with a 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win against Magnus Norman, of Sweden, who is in the process of feeling his way in at the top level of the game after a hip injury.

While not wishing to race ahead of events, it seems appropriate to acknowledge that Paradorn Srichaphan, Thailand's No 1, is likely to figure prominently in the fortunes of British tennis. He may play Greg Rusedski in the second round of the men's singles here, a contest of particular interest given Britain's Davis Cup World Group qualifying round tie against Thailand in Birmingham next month.

Two American wild cards stand in the way of a Rusedski-Srichaphan match here. The British No 2 is due to play Alex Kim, of Potomac, and Srichaphan meets Prakash Amritraj, of California, the son of Vijay Amritraj, the former India Davis Cup player.

En route to Flushing Meadows, Srichaphan paused and bowed his forehead to touch the Centre Court in Commack, Long Island, after winning the Hamlet Cup, his first ATP Tour title, on Sunday. The 23-year-old from Bangkok and his followers had waited patiently for the breakthrough, encouraged by his straight-sets win against Andre Agassi in the second round at Wimbledon and his advance to the final in Washington earlier this month, only to lose to the American James Blake.

For his match against Blake, Srichaphan wore a red shirt, the Thai colour representing victory. Undeterred by the outcome, he chose to wear red again in the third set of the Long Island final against Juan Ignacio Chela, of Argentina, whom Srichaphan defeated, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2.

In addition to becoming the first Thai to win an ATP title, Srichaphan also became the first man from his country to be ranked in the world's top 50 (he is No 33). "Winning my first title gives me a lot of confidence," Srichaphan said. "If I can keep my confidence and consistency, I can beat anybody."

Rusedski has no doubt about Srichaphan's potential and expects him to test Britain in the Davis Cup irrespective of what happens at the US Open. "It's not going to be as easy a match as we'd hoped," Rusedski said, "because he's really raised his game this year. He could have won easily in Washington. He beat Agassi at Wimbledon. But I think on paper if Tim [Henman] and myself are healthy, we should be able to take advantage of the second Thai player, and we haven't lost a doubles match yet. So I'd assume we're going to win, but it will be a lot better tennis than most people think. We're going to need the same support in we're used to in Birmingham."