Li Na of China, after upsetting No. 24 Shahar Peer of Israel, had one of the funniest press conferences I’ve heard in a while. Apparently, Andre Agassi was a real role model for her. Here’s what she said (I chose not to clean up the language. Hopefully that’s the right decision).

“I’m so young and I watch television and he was playing. I mean, in China, if men have long hair they think always like bad guy, okay? But I feeling he was playing on the court like a butterfly, so free. And also, I saw he have an earring. In China, that’s not possible you can do it for the men. And also, I feel like in China, I couldn’t do a lot what I want. So just watching TV, I feel like, Okay, I want do that. I like him a lot.”

Later, when asked what she liked about New York, she said: “Street number five.” Asked if that meant Fifth Avenue, she said yes. “I was talking to my husband. I say, Okay, after the match we have to go there. He say, No. Save the money for me. I stay in the house. So after the match I will go there. I mean, I don’t care about him, so I go myself. Taking credit card. That’s it.”

No big surprises through the first six hours of the tournament, though I was impressed with how Lindsay Davenport was able to get through despite playing just one match since April. The biggest seed to go down so far was the Israeli Shahar Peer (24th), who fell in three sets to Na Li of China. Rafael Nadal was pushed to a tiebreaker in the first set against quailifier Bjorn Phau (not good for my previous prediction) but he is doing better now.

Still a lot of excitement coming up tonight, with a celebration honoring the 40 singles champions of the Open era, and then James Blake-Donald Young.

Also, tomorrow’s schedule has already come out. Ivanovic, Serena and Spadea-Safin in the day session at Ashe, Venus-Federer at night. Safina, Gasquet-Haas, Fish and Mauresmo-Dechy at Armstrong, Berdych-Querrey, Hantuchova, Robredo and Mattek on the Grandstand.

This is Harold Gutmann live at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (now known as the USTABJKNTC). I’m thrilled to be back for another exciting year. This one should be even more exciting — when was the last time there wasn’t a clear favorite on either side?

For the men, obviously you have Roger Federer going for five in a row, which hasn’t been done since Bill Tilden in 1924. Rafael Nadal is trying to be the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win here, Wimbledon and the French in the same year. And Novak Djokovic is hoping to spoil the dream finals matchup.

For the women, you have the Serbians, the Williams, and the Russians. The Serbians have the top seeds but haven’t proven they can win here. The Williams have the titles, but they’re both coming off pretty bad losses in the Olympics, and of course they must play each other in the quarters. And the Russians may be the hottest players coming in, with Darina Safina earning the U.S. Open Series title and Elena Dementieva winning the gold medal (and No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova is also a former champ).

Anyone want to make some predictions? I’ll go first — Nadal over Djokovic, Serena over Dementieva.

As always, I’ll be here the next two weeks with the latest news, gossip, weather and traffic reports, etc., so stay tuned and please feel free to join in the conversation.