Mansour Bahrami reaches for the ball in his match with partner Zina Garrison against Jana Novotna and Tom Gullikson in the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        The usual player interaction with the crowd was missing and the number of trick shots could be counted on one hand. Instead of lighthearted and entertaining tennis as in past years, the Western & Southern Financial Group Seniors Championship took on a serious nature during the first night of play.

        “We talked about strategy before the match,” 1998 Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna said. “This is a very competitive tournament, and I came here to win.”

        Novotna and Tom Gullikson defeated Zina Garrison and trick shot artist and crowd favorite Mansour Bahrami 8-3 Thursday at the ATP Tennis Center.

        “It's distracting playing against Mansour, and I'd rather play with him,” Novotna said. “We wanted to keep it serious and not feed him, which would have gotten the crowd involved. We broke (2-2) early, which was important.”

        The second match was also competitive and serious, as Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and Gene Mayer defeated Jaime Fillol and Hana Mandlikova 8-4.

        Born in Haarlem, The Netherlands, the 31-year-old Schultz-McCarthy married former University of Cincinnati and Roger Bacon football standout Sean McCarthy in 1995.

        “I run a camp (Brenda Schultz-McCarthy Summer Junior Tennis & Soccer) in Virginia and had to leave the kids to play here,” Schultz-McCarthy said.

        “It is more serious this year because the players are younger and better.”

        One of two women players to serve over 120 mph, Schultz-McCarthy recorded six aces in the match, twice baffling Fillol.

        “Last year I was coming off back surgery,” the 6-foot-3 Schultz-McCarthy said. “I'm playing much better this year. I wish they had the radar equipment set up. I'd like to know how fast the serves were tonight.”

        The final match of the evening was the most competitive with Kathy Rinaldi (2001 champion with Gullikson) and Brian Gottfried defeating Gigi Fernandez and Owen Davidson 9-7.

        Play resumes tonight (7p.m.) with Rinaldi-Gottfried taking on Novotna-Gullikson.

        The top two teams advance to Saturday's championship.

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