Dateline: 01/20/00

After only two rounds of play in the 2000 Australian Open, five seeded players in the women's draw and nine in the men's have been eliminated. As the depth of competition continues to increase on both the ATP and WTA tours, seeded players don't advance with nearly as much certainty as they did twenty years ago, but this year's Australian Open has proven especially unpredictable.

On the women's side, the highest seed out thus far is #5, Nathalie Tauziat, who might have been expected to benefit from the fast court conditions, given her history of success at Wimbledon. The next fallen seed, #7, Amelie Mauresmo, was last year's runner-up to Martina Hingis. Amanda Coetzer (8), and Dominique Van Roost (14), also failed to reach the third round. Van Roost fell to one of the players attracting extra attention this year, Jennifer Capriati, whose comeback effort has raised her ranking from #112 to #21 in the last seven months.

Historically, the men's draw is usually less formful than the women's, and this men's draw has barely held to form at all below the top four. Out in the first round were Gustavo Kuerten (5), Thomas Enqvist (6), Cedric Pioline (13), Karol Kucera (14), and Albert Costa (15). The second round was the last for Nicolas Lapenti (7), Todd Martin (8), Richard Krajicek (9), and Tommy Haas (10).

At this early stage in the season, players enter the draws with greatly varying degrees of fitness and preparation, which makes it more difficult to try to relate patterns in the match results to this year's court conditions, but here's an attempt: Based on the court speed alone, the most predictable loss among the seeds is Amanda Coetzer's. Her mostly defensive game is made more difficult by a court that increases the potency of firepower that most of her opponents have in greater supply than she. Kuerten's loss was not too surprising, either, because his huge swings are tough to time on a faster court. Kuerten is most comfortable on slower clay. The most surprising loss is Richard Krajicek's. With one of the biggest serves in tennis, the fast court should have worked to his advantage. Amelie Mauresmo, among the most powerful hitters in the women's game, also should have benefited.

The top seeds in each draw are mostly cruising. Andre Agassi (1) and Pete Sampras(3) have been winning easily, and Yevgeny Kafelnikov (2) lost only four games in his advance through the second round. Martina Hingis (1) is looking well on track for her fourth Australian Open singles title in a row. Lindsay Davenport (2) and Mary Pierce (4), both power players, seem to be in good form, too. The #3 seed, Serena Williams, has struggled thus far. Having not played a match since October 4, she has taken the better part of the first two rounds to get up to speed.

Two Australian teenagers making headlines are Lleyton Hewitt and Jelena Dokic. Unfortunately, while Hewitt is on a spectacular winning streak, Dokic is showing signs of some serious personality problems.

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