New York, Aug 25: Chanda Rubin won the first point on the spanking new Arthur Ashe stadium court and the first game. She also was the first loser in the 1997 US Open.Rubin may have been selected to be first on the centerpiece court of the $254 million National Tennis Center expansion because she is the highest-ranked African-American in the professional ranks. It made no difference on Monday.Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn went into the Trivia Hall of Fame by being the first winner in the new complex, 6-4, 6-0.Venus Williams, who is being billed as the next black tennis superstar, also was given a chance to shine on the stadium court. She succeeded, beating Larisa Neiland of Latvia 5-7, 6-0, 6-1.The first seeded player to gain a spot in the second round was No. 14 Mark Philippoussis. The big-serving Australian pounded out a 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 decision over Morocco's Karim Alami.In the final match on opening day of the year's final Grand Slam event, Pete Sampras took on qualifier Todd Larkham of Australia.Once Whitney Houston's final note has faded into the darkness, once the plethora of former winners have taken their last bow, once the dedication of the new Arthur Ashe stadium has been completed, Sampras will begin again his chase of Roy Emerson.``It's only a matter of time before he gets me,'' said Emerson, who won a record 12 Grand Slam tournament men's singles titles before being inducted into the international tennis Hall of Fame. ``Pete's going to catch me and pass me.''Ranked No 1 in the world, the 26-year-old Sampras is seeking his third consecutive and fifth career US Open title. He also has four Wimbledon and two Australian Open championships on his resume, giving him a total of 10.Sampras received help from the draw. If he beat Larkham tonight, as expected, he will play the winner of a first-round match between two more qualifiers: Patrick Baur of Germany and Brazil's Jaime Oncins, who were scheduled to meet on an outside court today.The third match in Arthur Ashe stadium pitted two Americans Jim Courier, who once was ranked No 1 in the world and reached the US Open final six years ago, and Todd Martin, playing in his first tournament since suffering an injury early this year.Monica Seles, who has won the US Open twice and reached the final each of the last two years, was scheduled to begin the first night session against Kristie Boogert of The Netherlands. Seles, who has won two of her last three tournaments, is considered a major threat to halt top-seeded Martina Hingis' bid for a third Grand Slam tournament title in 1997.In stadium two, the court that until this year was where the top matches were played, it was called Louis Armstrong stadium, 16-year-old Russian Anna Kournikova against Sabine Appelmans of Belgium and No. 4 Goran Ivanisevic faced Romania's Dinu Pescariu.The third major show court stadium three, once known as the Grandstand, had No 15 Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania against American Lisa Raymond, Rusedski against American David Wheaton, No 8 Anke Huber of Germany against Italy's Gloria Pizzichini and Australian Richard Fromberg against Patrick McEnroe.
