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Soweto - Tahitian-born, French tennis sorcerer and top-seeded Fabrice Santoro's philosophy as demonstrated in his opening game in the Soweto Open on Tuesday is quite simple - destroy your opponent's mind and his body will, as a matter of course, destroy itself.
It was a strategy that worked to a tee as the engaging, 36-year-old player who is nicknamed "The Magician" accounted for a bewitched, bothered and bewildered Alexandre Kudryavtsev 6-2, 6-4 and had the 24-year-old Russian hurling his racket round the court in unrestrained frustration.
He was outwitted by an opponent who avoided playing unforced errors as though they were the plague and induced the powerful-stroking Kudryavtsev to make countless mistakes in dealing with subtle changes of pace and cunning, sliced two-handed backhands and forehands.
Too late, it seemed, the Russian realised the folly of his impatience, impetuosity and wild hitting and showed he was actually a player of considerable talent while saving five match points.
Ultimately, however, it was a case of brain triumphing over brawn as Santoro plugged Kudryavtsev's weaker forehand while returning serve and neutralised the Russian's booming groundstrokes.
Afterwards, Santoro confirmed he would be retiring from tournament tennis at the end of the year after a distinguished 21-year career that has taken him as high as a 17th world singles ranking and earned him six ATP singles titles and 24 doubles titles - including winning two grand slam men's doubles honours and two in the mixed doubles.
He had a hankering to come to South Africa and after withdrawing from the recent South African Open at Montecasino because of the fatigue from playing in the Australian at Montecasino decided to enter the Soweto Open in preference to the current Monte Carlo Masters tournament "because I have been there so many times and this is something new."
Presently ranked 52nd in the world, Santoro said his unorthodox style was something he had grown up with from his youth and never deliberately cultivated.
Rik De Voest, South Africa's main hope in the Soweto Open, had a topsy-turvy opening game against Great Britain's Chris Eaton, winning the first and third sets comfortably and losing his way in the second set of what was eventually a comfortable 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory.
"His powerful serve took off in the second set," said de Voest afterwards, and I seemed to lose concentration. But fortunately I found my touch in the third set and regained control."
Raven Klaasen, another member of the South African Davis Cup squad, had a creditable 6-4, 7-6 win over Israel's Noam Okun.
And Izak van der Merwe, a third South African Davis Cup squad member in the Soweto tournament, suffered a heartbreaking 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) loss against France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin in which one point in the third-set tiebreaker of the two hours and nine minute match was effectively the difference between the well-matched players.
