Tennis: Ailing Hewitt falls to Spaniard

MELBOURNE - Lleyton Hewitt became the first Australian Open top seed to lose in the first round of the men's singles when he was beaten 6-1, 1-6 4-6, 6-7 by Spaniard Alberto Martin yesterday.

Hewitt, the US Open champion, recovering from a bout of chicken pox a fortnight ago, won the first set comfortably but slowed visibly as the match progressed. The world No 1's error count grew steadily and the tenacious but unseeded Martin took every advantage.

An unhappy Hewitt's cause was not helped when he was treated for foot blisters at 4-3 in the fourth set and two games later he received a courtside massage on his right thigh.

Defending women's champion Jennifer Capriati made a successful return to Melbourne Park when she thrashed Croatian Silvija Talaja 6-4, 6-1 in a comfortable first-round workout.

Top-seed Capriati, who also captured the French Open title last year, needed just 62 minutes to dispose of Talaja.

The American broke Talaja's serve three times in the second set and hammered a forehand winner on her first match point before smiling and giving a thumbs-up to the centre-court crowd.

"I think I played well today," said Capriati, the world No 1.

Capriati had her right thigh heavily strapped throughout. The 25-year-old admitted she was not fully fit for her title defence after suffering a hip injury in last week's Sydney International.

But Capriati said that the strapping was just a precaution and she felt happy with the way she had been able to move.

Anna Kournikova's challenge barely got out of first gear as she was sent packing in the opening round 2-6, 5-7 by sixth-seed Justine Henin.

Also falling at the first hurdle was men's American 19th seed Jan-Michael Gambill, who slumped 2-6, 4-6, 6-7 to South Africa's Wayne Ferreira.

Eighth seed and former champion Pete Sampras cruised past Grand Slam debutant Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Sampras - whose chances of winning a 14th Grand Slam title were boosted when last year's winner Andre Agassi pulled out on Monday with an injury - looked untroubled on Rod Laver Arena court.

His experience told against the Finn as he kept his nose in front throughout.

Roger Federer, of Switzerland, crushed former world No 2 Michael Chang 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

Chang, French Open champion in 1989, has now lost in the first round of the season-opening Grand Slam for three consecutive years.

Kournikova's defeat was the latest blow to a player who, despite being one of the most highly paid in the sport, has yet to win a singles title in seven years of trying.

Henin's straightforward victory highlighted the many weaknesses in Kournikova's game.

A quarter-finalist here last year, the 20-year-old Florida-based Russian has slumped to 64 in the world after missing much of last year with a stress fracture in her left foot. A legacy of that lowly ranking is that she is likely to meet seeded players early in tournaments.



But whatever her results, Kournikova is always guaranteed showcourt status and more media coverage than any other player at the Open. Although she again came up short against Henin, she did not disappoint her legion of fans and photographers who had come to see the pin-up.

Dressed in a powder-blue outfit of hot-pants and sleeveless top, broken up by a white belt and sun visor, Kournikova looked like a player straight out of the 70s. Unfortunately, she also played like a player from the 70s.

Former Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez moved into the second round when her second prospective opponent in 24 hours limped out with an ankle injury.

The unseeded Spaniard was leading 3-6, 6-3, 2-0 on an outside court when Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya retired with what officials described as a sprained left ankle.

Krasnoroutskaya had taken injured fifth-seed Serena Williams' place in the women's singles draw after the American pulled out on Monday.

France's Amelie Mauresmo advanced with a 6-1, 6-0 demolition of Taiwan's Janet Lee. Seventh-seed Mauresmo never looked in any trouble.

A runner-up here in 1999, Mauresmo is one of only a handful of players who can match Capriati and second-seed Venus Williams for power. She showed all her strength in walloping the world No 115 in just 49 minutes.

- AGENCIES