Tennis: Easy victory for Nielsen in Queensland

Mark Nielsen proved there is still a big gap between the top two ranked New Zealand men's players by defeating Rubin Statham in the first round of the US$15,000 Futures in Brisbane yesterday.

Nielsen, 28, ranked at 343rd in the world, beat the second-ranked Kiwi, Statham, 18 who is ranked at 650th, 6-1, 6-0 in the first round.

And two Kiwi qualifiers have made the second round of the singles after wins yesterday at the US$25,000 Canberra Challenger claycourt tournament. Shona Lee beat German Annette Kolb 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 and Tracey O'Connor beat Australian Lara Picone 6-2, 6-3.