By TERRY MADDAFORD
At times, Mary Pierce and Paola Suarez gave the impression they were doing their best impersonation of The Odd Couple yesterday.
At others they were on song and giving little hint that their ASB Classic outing was the first time they had teamed up to play doubles.
In just 1h
10min the scratch combination beat the competition's fourth seeds, Eleni Daniilidou and Patricia Wartusch, 6-3, 6-3.
From the time Pierce overcame first-game jitters - in her first outing since the US Open in August - the French-Argentine combination gave their Greek-Austrian opponents few chances.
Pierce, ever-smiling, was happy at being paired with Suarez. The feeling was obviously mutual.
There was the odd hiccup when both players backed off then watched, and laughed, as the ball dropped between them.
At other times they gave some none-too-gentle reminders of how good they might be.
In serving two aces to close out game five to love, Pierce gave one such example. At other times her reach and power at the net had her opponents struggling.
Suarez, too, showed the full range of skills the doubles game demands and, every so often, Daniilidou exhibited the ability which has her as second seed in the singles.
Pierce's coach, David MacPherson, was pleased his charge had decided to play doubles as a means of easing herself back on to the circuit.
"We talked about it and decided it would be good for her to play doubles here," said MacPherson. "We saw Paola was entered in the singles and gave her a call."
The rest, as they say, may well be history if they can continue to play with the same flair and enjoyment they showed to the big first-day crowd yesterday.
