Ferreira teaches a lesson to Clement

SYDNEY, JANUARY 7: South Africa’s Wayne Ferreira put Arnaud Clement’s preparations for next week’s Australian Open in a spin when he eliminated the fifth seed 6-2, 6-4 on Monday in the first round of the Sydney international.

"It would be better if I had more matches here but it’s okay," said Clement, the World No 17 in rankings released on Monday. Clement, 24, one of the heroes of France’s Davis Cup final win over Australia in Melbourne last month, was runner-up in last year’s Australian Open, losing the final to American Andre Agassi. Ferreira, with a world ranking of 63, made better use of the hot and windy conditions. Spain’s seventh seed Carlos Moya also went out in the first round, losing to South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee 7-6, 7-6.

Australia’s Wayne Arthurs, who lost the deciding rubber in the Davis Cup final against Nicolas Escude, was beaten on Monday by Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-5, 7-6. Unseeded Russian Anna Kournikova beat Spain’s Angeles Montolio 6-4, 6-2 in their women’s first round match. Kournikova, who crashed out in the semis of the Auckland Classic last week, played little tennis last year because of a foot injury.

Nielsen wins

AUCKLAND: Unheralded New Zealander Mark Nielsen justified his wild card for the Heineken Open men’s tournament on Monday when he beat seventh seed Swede Andreas Vinciguerra 7-6, 6-4 in the tournament’s opening match. Nielsen, ranked 457th in the world, was only included with the organisers’ final wild card, but was rarely in trouble against the 34th-ranked Vinciguerra. The 24-year-old Aucklander said: "I haven’t particularly enjoyed the last year dropping out of the top 200.” (Reuters)