MERCEDES NOTEBOOK: A BRIEF STAY HOME.

Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer

Justin Gimelstob claims Los Angeles Tennis Center as his home court, and not only because he has used the UCLA courts dating back to his days as a Bruin.

Despite his struggles to remain on the tour over the past couple of years, Gimelstob's seven consecutive trips to the Mercedes-Benz Cup are the most of any player. This year and last, Gimelstob, 25, needed a wild-card invitation to play.

Now ranked No. 134, Gimelstob was 3-12 on the tour last season and 3-3 this year entering his first-round match against No. 61 Nicolas Kiefer. Gimelstob lost 7-5, 6-1, drawing a sizable audience on the grandstand court despite playing opposite Andre Agassi.

--Celebs: The biggest draw of Monday's opening night was to watch celebrities give tennis a try. Their tennis needed a little work, but they were on top of their game with humorous banter.

Agassi's team of Dennis Miller, Kelsey Grammer and James McDaniel (the latter best known for ``NYPD Blue'') lost 21-14 to Gustavo Kuerten's team of Matthew Perry, Michael Bolton and Dr. Phil of Oprah fame.

Agassi and Miller were the biggest clowns of the evening. Agassi set up to serve to Dr. Phil and shouted, ``Bring this back to Oprah!'' At one point, Grammer's cell phone went off as Agassi was about to serve. Grammer answered the phone and had a brief conversation at the baseline, prompting Agassi to cry, ``There's no cell phones in tennis!''

Proceeds from the evening went to the charity MusiCares, a foundation to help struggling music professionals with health care and substance abuse.

Paid attendance for the evening was 6,382, with 11,029 total at the tournament Monday. MusiCares also has an auction on eBay that includes a Gibson guitar signed by all of the night's participants. The auction ends Thursday.

--Today's highlights: Featured matches today display America's future. Andy Roddick, 19, plays against 23-year-old Brian Vahaly on stadium court at 7:30 p.m. Roddick, seeded fourth, is already the second-highest-ranked American in the world at No. 12 (behind Agassi).

After that, 20-year-old Taylor Dent of Newport Beach plays against seventh-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium. Dent, ranked No. 71, lost to Malisse in the quarterfinals of last year's Mercedes-Benz Cup.

However, Malisse, ranked No. 22, didn't sound like he thought of himself as the favorite against the hard-serving Dent. Hardcourt isn't his favorite surface.

``It will be tough,'' Malisse said. ``It's tough to find my form on hardcourt. He's playing well, serving big. I've got nothing to lose. I'll just try to win and if he beats me, then I'll do what I can next week.''