Just at the moment when Lindsay Davenport, the reigning champion, completed a decidedly awkward 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 first-round victory over Jelena Dokic, Melbourne's resident fruit bats took to the pink-flushed evening sky in their nightly search for food.

The more fanciful in the Rod Laver stadium might have wondered if Dokic's father, Damir, had slipped among them in the form of a vampire bat and would, at any moment, swoop down on the necks of Tennis Australia officials and sundry members of the media to wreak a horrible revenge prior to the Dokic family leaving for their new life in Florida.

The Dokic story has been one of the more bizarre in the history of women's tennis, a sport that has had more than its fair share of overbearing mothers and fathers whose influence over their daughters has ranged from the merely obsessive to the genuinely psychotic.

Damir Dokic is banned from watching his daughter play until March, the result of his being banished from the US Open last year for verbally abusing a member of the catering staff. It was the last of many public outbursts and the International Tennis Federation and women's ruling body, the WTA, which had both been itching to ban him, hoped it would give Jelena (17) a period of calm.

No one quite knew how the crowd in the Rod Laver stadium, Australia's equivalent of Centre Court, would react, least of all Dokic herself. The reality was that she was somewhat halfheartedly booed when she was introduced as "representing Yugoslavia", and lightly booed again at the end when she disappeared down the tunnel in obvious and understandable haste.

"I think it was actually quite okay. I expected a lot worse," said Dokic who, considering the huge pressure involved, acquitted herself both on and off the court with remarkable composure.

This pressure had been compounded by her father announcing on television just before the match that, regardless of the outcome, his daughter was likely to withdraw from the tournament. Jelena, speaking about half a mile from the Melbourne Cricket Ground, played this one with a totally dead bat. " I don't know about that," she said. "I still have doubles and mixed doubles, so we'll see how that goes."

No one in the tennis world would care to second-guess what her father will do next. As things stand, his daughter will have residency in Yugoslavia and Florida, where they have already bought a home using Jelena's prizemoney and endorsements, although she may return to the Australian fold in the future.

Initially Davenport, the number two seed, appeared more troubled about the controversy surrounding the match than Dokic, and the American needed to dig deep into her considerable reserves of experience to level before serving brilliantly to take the third set.

"I think Jelena is a great girl with a great future," said Davenport. "She might have some difficult days ahead but she is definitely going to be a top-10 player."

But, when questioned about the influence Dokic's father had on her life, Davenport was considerably more circumspect. "I don't know his thinking at all but I know I've been lucky to have such a supportive family who have allowed me to go my own way."

On a quiet opening day all the favourites won through with the exception of Chanda Rubin who lost 6-3, 6-0 to Slovakian Husarova.