By Tony Becca - From The Boundary 
Tony Becca
THE AUSTRALIAN Open, the first tennis Grand Slam tournament of the year, is under way in Melbourne, and based on the high level of skills in the early rounds, particularly as displayed by the likes of Andre Agassi, Venus Williams and Justine Henin-Hardenne, it should be a wonderful and exciting tournament.
In an awesome display after losing the first game, Agassi destroyed Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 in 80 minutes in a second-round match that was expected to be close and exciting; in another second round matchup and after a stuttering start in the first round, a confident, powerful Venus Williams was devastating while knocking out fellow American Ansley Cargill 6-3, 6-0 in less than one hour; and again in another second round contest, Henin-Hardenne embarrassed Anna Kournikova with a 48-minute 6-0, 6-1 thrashing.
Upsets - the triumph of the underdog - are what make sport so exciting, and as brilliant as Agassi, Venus Williams and Henin-Hardenne have been, the real excitement so far have come from Sweden's Magnus Larsson, France's Emilie Loit and Germany's Marlene Weingartner.
Ranked at 155 in the world, Larsson, who had to qualify for the tournament, pushed favourite Lleyton Hewitt to five sets in the first round before bowing out; and in a real surprise, Loit, ranked number 56 in the world, forced Serena Williams, the number one seed and the best in the world by far, to pull out all the stops in the first round before winning 3-6, 7-6, 7-5.
The real shocker, however, came from Weingartner.
Down 3-0 after losing the first set, Weingartner, ranked at 90, recovered to knock out the two-time defending champion and number three seed Jennifer Capriati 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the first round, and although there were all kinds of excuses from all quarters - including Capriati herself, it was a victory well deserved.
In most upsets, the favourite failed to fire. This time, however, that did not seem the case. On Monday, Capriati looked at her best until Weingartner, always going for her shots, found a purple patch and there was no stopping her.
"I felt like I didn't give myself the proper preparation," said Capriati afterwards. "I just felt the momentum swing mentally and physically. I wasn't strong. If I wasn't the defending champion I probably wouldn't have shown up."
"I deserved it, I played really well, and I just went for it," said Weingartner, however - and that seemed to be what happened.
Weingartner was on a roll and just as Martina Hingis could not stop Capriati in the final last year when, after losing the first set and down 0-4 in the second, she saved four match points and rallied to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-2, Capriati could not stop the confident German.
With Agassi, Venus Williams and Henin-Hardenne already playing so well and with others like Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Sebastien Grosjean, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Lindsay Davenport around, the Australian Open is heading for a brilliant, shot-filled climax.
Another giant killer like Weingartner may still be around, however, and like Capriati, chances are that by the time it gets to the quarter-finals, the semi-finals and the final, one or two of the big guns may not be around.
