``Well, at least this was better than last year,'' said Paes immediately after the match, obviously remembering the thrashing that Eltis gave him.Paes, currently ranked 128th has been a pro since 1991 and has had his share of notable victories especially since Davis Cup. Phau, on the other hand, is ranked 672 and even though he is on the Mercedes junior team and is highly thought of by his mentor Boris Becker, it was obvious that he was still a long way off from realising his full potential. Becker did watch Phau from the players enclosure and he could not have approved of his protege's play as Paeshustled him into errors. Phau could not match the Indian's athleticism and at the net too, Paes was very much the superior player. Phau did make some good passing shots and there was a certain fluency in his ground-strokes. But these were not enough to cause Paes much discomfort.

Phau had trouble with his serve too and this made Paes' task all the more easier. After the players held serve in the first four games, Paes broke Phau in the fifth game of the first set. The Indian consolidated by breaking the German again in the seventh game on his fourth break point and duly served out the set in the eighth game. The pattern was almost similar in the second set. Phau indicated that he would love to come back and participate next year. Perhaps, by then, he will be closer to realising his full potential.

Birthday gift for Solves: It was Gerard Solves' 30th birthday and he did celebrate it in style. The Frenchman beat back a game challenge from qualifier Jeff Salzenstein of USA 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 to move intothe second round.

Solves, ranked 155th, was a semi-finalist last year and was expected to get the better of his opponent, ranked some 25 places below. Rainer Schuttler (Germany), made short work of Austrain Stefan Koubek 6-1, 6-3. In two other one-sided first round matches, Cristiano Caratti of Italy routed countryman Vinconyo Santopadre 6-4, 6-0 while German Lars Burgsmuller thrashed Michael Sell of USA 6-0, 6-2.

The third seeded pair of Jonathan Stark and Jeff Salzenstein of USA were upset by David Nainkin and Wesley Whitehouse of South Africa 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in the first round of the doubles event. But the top seeds Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde of Australia brushed aside the fragile challenge from D.Dilucia and P Tramacchi 6-2, 6-2 to move into the quarter-finals.

Two Indian pairs crashed out of the doubles without putting up much of a fight. Sandeep Kirtane and Vishal Uppal went down tamely 2-6, 4-6 to B Cowan and F Veglio while Harsh Mankad and Gaurav Natekar were beaten 1-6, 2-6 by OliverDelaitre and Max Mirnyi.