Tennis: Queen St show preludes serious stuff

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Auckland fans won't have to wait long to see former world No 1 Gustavo Kuerten in action today.

The Brazilian sporting legend goes head-to-head with Argentine Mariano Zabaleta in their version of street tennis on Queen St at noon before heading back to the court where he will join countryman Andre Sa in the first-round doubles.

As part of the promotion surrounding the Heineken Open, Kuerten and Zabaleta will also team up for a quick doubles hit-out against New Zealand's Jacob Olsen and television presenter Tony Veitch.

Once the fun's out of the way, it will be all business as some of the world's best continue their build-up for next week's Australian Open.

Argentine No 5 and world No 41 Jose Acasuso will be the only seeded player in singles action today when he meets Spain's former world No 10, Felix Mantilla.

The winner will play the victor of the match between Sa and Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen, who are ranked 66th and 65th respectively.

New Zealand's first player will be in the second match on stadium court this afternoon when Davis Cup players Alistair Hunt and Mark Nielsen meet the Argentinian pairing of Agustin Calleri and Guillermo Coria.

Kuerten and Sa, unseeded but with the experience of having played Davis Cup doubles for Brazil, will play the last of the four day matches on the main court against third-seeded Czechs Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner.

The action will continue when Slovak Dominik Hrbaty, the winner here two years ago, tackles unsung New Zealander Simon Rea in the first evening match.

Doubles second seeds, South Africans David Adams and Robbie Koenig, will finish the day's action with their first round clash against another Argentine pairing, Gaston Etlis and Martin Rodriguez.

With appetites whetted, the second day promises even better with the remaining seven singles seeds in action.

Sixth-seeded American Jan-Michael Gambill, fresh from the final of the Doha tournament where he lost to Austrian Stefan Koubek, will play one of tomorrow's features against Swiss Michel Kratochvil, who reached the semifinals here last year.

The big clash on "terrific Tuesday" will be the all-Argentine battle between second seed David Nalbandian and unseeded Zabaleta.

There will be some anxious times for the four players who win through from today's last round of qualifying.

One will have to play top seed Czech Jiri Novak, another faces Calleri, the world's No 50.

And, lucky enough to miss one of those two players at the top of the draw, one qualifier will be standing on the opposite side of the net to play Kuerten in another of tomorrow's features.

Wildcard New Zealander Nielsen will also share the limelight tomorrow when he plays Koubek, a player ranked, before yesterday's Doha triumph, 248 places higher than Nielsen's 302.