Thomas Johansson, the last home winner four years ago of the Stockholm Open, bowled over Belgian Xavier Malisse 7-6
(7/4), 7-6 (7/1) on Monday to reach the second round.
The unseeded 29-year-old, the 2002 Australian Open champion, likes his chances at the Kungligahallen as he reconstructs a comeback season following a year away with knee surgery.
"I'm happy with how I played," he said. "I was able to change the pace of the match when I needed to. I want to show the fans that I can still play good tennis," Johansson said.
Third seed Andrei Pavel and number eight Fernando Verdasco of Spain both advanced on a light day with the arrival yesterday of top seed Andre Agassi imminent.
Romanian Pavel moved into the second round after his 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) defeat of Argentina's Agustin Calleri. Verdasco advanced when American Robby Ginepri pulled out with a lower back problem while trailing 6-2, 2-1.
American Jan-Michael Gambill handed Finn Jarkko Nieminen an unpleasant reminder of past poor performances.
Nieminen, who reached a surprise final as a qualifier in 2001, losing to Sjeng Schalken, has now lost in the first round for three consecutive years.
He went out to Gambill 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-2 to keep that unwanted streak alive.
Swede Joachim Johansson, seeded second, opened last night against Chile's Adrian Garcia. Johansson, a US Open finalist, is pleased to have a non-travel week.
"I'm happy to stay home, I live 30 minutes away from the event and I have a lot of friends coming to watch me, so I'm looking forward to that."
Agassi in the run
Andre Agassi was set to intensify his chase for a place in next month's eight-man Masters Cup after losing to Marat Safin in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters.
Already on site for several days in the Swedish capital is Agassi's coach, Darren Cahill, who has been studying a tape of his charge's loss in Spain.
Together they will go over the defeat to Safin with a fine toochcomb ahead of Agassi's first first-round match against Belgian Kristof Vliegen.
ATP officials on Monday confirmed Agassi's arrival, saying the eight-time Grand Slam champion had confirmed he would play after sounding somewhat disinterested in carrying on after his elimination in Madrid.
The veteran can start earning points as soon as the second round and can only add to his total of 393 the farther he progresses.
Agassi is in provisional eighth place in a field from which Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt have already qualified.
Serena desperate for win
Desperate to salvage a major title from a disappointing 2004, Serena Williams has flown to Austria to earn points for the end-of-season WTA Championships.
With two weeks of the regular season remaining, Serena and her older sister Venus are in danger of missing the eight-woman Championships for the second year.
Last year injury was the sole reason for the former world number ones' absences. This year, the sisters' inability to stem the Russian tsunami sweeping through women's tennis is why Serena has decided at the last minute to play in Linz this week.
Serena, ranked eighth in the race for the WTA Championships, told Linz organizers seven days ago she wanted to play in the 32-strong singles tournament.
But, stung by her withdrawal from the Linz event last year and in 2002, the organizers told her she would have to be on the waiting list like everyone else.
Israel's Anna Smashnova pulled out last week to create space for Williams but organizers were still not convinced Serena would turn up.
"I'll believe it only when she comes out of the aircraft and steps on Linz soil," said tournament director Sandra Reichel.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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