-- but it's doubtful he won any new friends.

The Argentinian tried every trick in the book as he fought back from 1-5 down in the third set to defeat Russian Andrei Merinov 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in an energy-sapping encounter lasting a little over 21 hours.

If he wasn't questioning line calls -- even those clearly in or out -- he was incurring time violation warnings or calling for the trainer for treatment to an injury.

All, apparently. with the aim of disrupting his opponent's rhythm.

And then, having drawn level at 5-5, the piece de resistance: shaping to serve, he made an immediate response to a call of nature and rushed off to grab one of his bathroom breaks.

This was when Merinov snapped, complaining "this is a joke'' to the chair umpire who informed him that the ball had not been in play. This was also when you knew that Arnold had it in the bag and it was no surprise when he ran out a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 winner.

His tactics left a disconsolate Merinov with his head buried under a towel for a good 15 minutes after the match had ended.

"I think personally it is a little bit unfair if you have to do this to win,'' said Merinov afterwards. "If you're going to win you want to win with your tennis, not all these little tricks and jokes.

"It was all tactical. Maybe I should use these tactics. There are a lot of players using them but I don't do it because somehow it doesn't come into my head. I'm concentrating on the game.'' It would perhaps be unfair to suggest that Arnold won simply through underhand methods. He really was out of it in the third set, regulation forehands and backhands hitting the net with regualrity.

But then, mixed in with the trickery, he deployed a technical device to make Merinov think. He threw the ball up high on his forehand, making it more and more difficult for the Russian, ranked 73 places below him, to produce the punishing and precise returns that had won him the advantage from the middle of the second set.

"You don't very often come up against a player using those very high balls, especially in the third set,'' the Russian said.

"It is very difficult to take the ball early on the up. Anyway, I should have done it, I should have stayed close to the baseline and approached every ball.

This is where I was weak.'' And he admitted he had not been tough enough mentally to finish off the match.

"The chances are always there. But to win it is the matter of who is the tougher because at this level the strokes are less important than the spirit and the mental power. He was just stronger.'' Arnold, for his part, was just happy to have come through a troublesome encounter.

"It was very tough. I played well in the first set and and afterwards I was a little lucky. But it was good that I kept calm when I was 5-1 down in the third. I still played every point.'' But he said it had been difficult to come straight in to the tournament after a tough doubles match in Argentina's Davis Cup win over Chile.

Playing with Louis Lobo, he had overcome the new singles number Marcelo Rios and his partner Nicolas Massu.

"I had a one day flight to get here. And having won Davis Cup we went out to celebrate so I was pretty tired.'' Arnold, seeded six, was in fact one of three Argentinians who came through their first round matches yesterday. Davis Cup team-mates Hernan Gumy and Franco Squillari both overcame lowly opposition, but while Gumy's win was straightforward -- 6-2, 6-0 over Australia's Grant Doyle -- Squillari was made to fight all the way by Brazil's Roberto Jabali. Squallari set up a meeting with Germany's Dirk Dier in the second round with his eventual 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph.