11.   Gama and Alatas met separately Thursday morning with U.S. Ambassador Bill Richardson before joining Annan for the opening round of the two-day session.

12.   Graf even said she planned to call Navratilova Tuesday night to discuss tactics for their scheduled opening round match Wednesday against Nanne Dahlman and Olga Lugina.

13.   Goal differentials in the remaining opening round games will determine the fate of Ecuador and Venezuela, although both are considered long shots.

14.   Having made it to their sixth World Cup finals, the Paraguayans advanced through their first round group, sending Spain to a shock opening round exit.

15.   Hingis has everything to gain in Key Biscayne, where she lost in the opening round a year ago.

16.   His teammate is doing his bit to have Carter in a good mood come the opening round.

17.   In Oslo, Olympic gold-medalists Czech Republic, which breezed through the opening round unbeaten, will open the quarterfinals Friday against Russia.

18.   In the best match of the opening round, Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia meets German Nicolas Kiefer.

19.   Japan faces Tunisia on Friday in their final opening round game in Osaka.

20.   Jonas Bjorkman became the second seed to be dumped out of the European Community Championship in the opening round Tuesday.