Rubin goes out

The qualifiers at Roland-Garros often see the emergence of promising youngsters; they also provide an opportunity to check out better-known faces as they attempt to recreate their glory years. And so it was today, as many of the spectators who poured along the stadium's walkways on this sunny Wednesday morning found themselves cheering on a former world number six, three-time finalist at "Roland", 1996 Australian Open semi-finalist and winner of seven WTA tour titles.

But at 29, Chanda Rubin is no longer the champion she once was, her career having been disrupted by almost every injury imaginable. Operated on in 2001, her left knee has been giving her trouble recently, and the problem hasn't gone away. Consequently, until this week, the American had not been seen at a major tournament since September 2004! No surprise, therefore, that her return to competition proved problematic in Paris. Her ranking of 127th in the world earned her seeded status (14th) here, but her compatriot Bethanie Mattek was far from overawed, winning 2/6, 6/3, 6/1.

Rubin's exit illustrates the extremely high standard of these "qualies", which have already turned up several young talents in full bloom. Michaella Krajicek (seeded 6), Richard's half-sister, overcame the first hurdle without difficulty. Other players more accustomed to the limelight of big tournaments, such as the American Meilen Tu, Belgium's Els Callens, Hungary's Petra Mandula (a former quarter-finalist in Paris) and the Argentine Clarisa Fernandez (a semi-finalist in 2002) have all survived the first round.

The men, for their part, are already well into the second round. Having made the last sixteen at Paris in 1993, Jarkko Nieminen (seeded 3) is a player many at this level will want to avoid, as is James Blake, due to play Thursday. Fully recovered from his wrist injury suffered last year, the Finn Nieminen was flying on court today (Wednesday), leaving the Swede Filip Prpic powerless to resist (6/0, 6/3).

Germany's Tomas Behrend (3rd seed) is looking equally impressive, dropping just eight games in two matches.