The Indian's game, on display in today's match was vastly different from that which brought him to the final round of the grand slam men's qualifying event. Kavcic put Somdev's serve under pressure right from the start of the first set, so much so that he had to fend off two break points in the 2nd game to hold serve.

Top seed and 15-time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer will face Russia's Igor Andreev in round one, with a possible match up with No.22 seed and Australian No.1 Lleyton Hewitt in the round of 16. Hewitt will meet a qualifier first up, with the chance of running into dangerous Frenchman, No. 15 seed Gilles Simon in round three.

The Indian flag continues to flutter at the Melbourne Park Stadium, all thanks to the valiant effort of 24-year old Somdev Devvarman, who squeezed past Germany's Tobias Kamke 2-6, 6-1, 8-6, to reach the last round of the Australian Open Men's singles qualifying event.

The Assam-boy is now the only Indian still in the race to reach the main draw of the year's first grand slam and has a final hurdle in the form of 12th seed Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic.

Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin was the man responsible for silencing the Indian in a tightly fought second round match, winning 7-5, 6-4 in the men's qualifying event.

The list of seeds for the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open at Melbourne Park were announced today, and as has been the case in recent times the Big 4 continue to tow the line set by the ATP and WTA Tours. Gone are the days when seeds were announced at the discretion of the organizers forcing crazed fans to look at the lists in all eagerness wondering what numbers their favourites were assigned.

While the current system eliminates both vagueness and partiality, it also removes any sense of mystery surrounding the game. Imagine if the Australian Open organizers had been adventurous enough to hand former champion Justine Henin a top 16 seeding on the grounds that she is more than likely to make the second week. Shudder the thought!

Hopes of an Indian presence in the main draw of the Australian Open are still high as two out of our three young stars have made it to the second round of the Australian Open Men's Singles Qualifying event in Melbourne Park.

Somdev Devvarman, runner-up at last year's Chennai Open crushed Australian wild card James Duckworth 6-2, 6-1 while Prakash Amritraj got past German Andre Begemann in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.