Tennis: Rusedski's back injury clouds win

GREG RUSEDSKI is keeping his fingers crossed that a back problem does not flare up again at the Australian Open. Rusedski, the No 8 seed, was to be found flat out on the court receiving treatment during the second set of his first-round match with the Australian Scott Draper yesterday.

However, he climbed off the rubber to win 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 and, having seen off the world No 46, next plays the 187th-ranked Paul Goldstein, an American qualifier.

Petr Korda, whose participation here was in doubt following the furore over his positive Wimbledon drugs test, prevailed yesterday - although his opponent refused to shake hands. Korda declined to comment after his five-set win over Galo Blanco, which included a third set injury time- out to treat a twisted left ankle. The Spaniard refused to shake Korda's hand at the end, saying he suspected the reigning champion of feigning injury.

Although Rusedski's way forward has been made easier by the absence of Pete Sampras, Marcelo Rios and Goran Ivanisevic, and the early exits of Carlos Moya (seeded four), Albert Costa (12), Cedric Pioline (13) and Thomas Johansson (16), there are other hurdles still to cross. The resurgent Andre Agassi is in Rusedski's half of the draw and the Las Vegan looked in ominously good form yesterday in beating the Argentinian Hernan Gumy for the loss of only three games.

Rusedski's immediate concern, though, is that his back injury does not worsen. "I did it about four days ago practising," he said. "But I am sure it will be fine for the rest of the tournament. It's just muscle tension - nothing serious."

The 25-year-old took the first set tie-break, but after stretching for the smash which won him the set, his back began to restrict him seriously, and he called for the trainer after losing his opening service game to love in the second set.

There were other slight problems for the British No 2 during the match - an over- excited ball-boy and a noisy postman.

"The boy nearly hit me in the head tossing a ball to me and I asked him if he could take it easy a little bit - it was not a big deal," he said. As for the postman, Rusedski added" "Some absolutely crazy guy screamed out during the match. I know him pretty well. He's a postman by professional - a very vocal one."

On a disastrous day for Spain, only two of 14 the nation's players remain, including the second seed Alex Corretja, who survived against the Japanese wildcard Takao Suzuki in five sets on Monday. The other Spanish survivor is Julian Alonso, who beat Canada's Sebastien Lareau 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, earning a meeting with Korda.

Carlos Moya, the French Open champion and 1997 runner-up to Sampras in Melbourne, fell 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 to the German Nicolas Kiefer, saying that he was suffering from the effects of a virus picked up at the Hopman Cup in Perth two weeks ago.

In the women's draw, the former world No 1 Monica Seles kept up her remarkable unbeaten run when she coasted past Tina Krizan 6-1, 6-0 in the first round. Seles, seeded sixth, overcame the Slovakian qualifier in only 40 minutes.

Martina Hingis opened her title defence with the minimum of fuss, scuttling the American Lilia Osterloh 6-1, 6-2.

However, a double-faulting Anna Kournikova just managed to stave off a total collapse. The 17-year-old has seen her service game falter recently and she served 23 double-faults against the American qualifier Jill Craybas. Fortunately for the No 12 seed, her opponent could not capitalise on Kournikova's problems. The Russian held her nerve on the pressure points to scrape into the second round with a 7-6, 7-5 win in a nervous 90 minutes.