United States Open champion Lleyton Hewitt lost his debut match at the Monte Carlo Masters yesterday, going down in the first round to unseeded Carlos Moya 6-4, 6-3.
The Australian was the top-ranked player at the first major clay-court tournament of the season.
The 21-year-old's defeat came less than six weeks
before the start of the French Open, which is the only Grand Slam played on clay. He reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year.
nte Sixth-seeded Russian Marat Safin snapped a three-match losing streak at Monte Carlo by beating Spain's Tommy Robredo 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The 22-year-old Safin reached the finals of this year's Australian Open, but has not won a title since October.
He next faces 15-year-old French qualifier Richard Gasquet, who is the youngest-ever player in the main draw of a Masters Series event.
Second-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain, defeated countryman Albert Portas 6-2, 6-2.
Ferrero has made just one quarter-final this season, but won the Italian Open last year on clay and was a German Open finalist.
* Second seed Monica Seles struggled to win her second-round match at the Family Circle Cup women's tournament at Charleston, South Carolina, yesterday, but third seed Serena Williams barely broke into a sweat to advance in straight sets. Seles spent 106 minutes battling fellow American Amy Frazier before closing out the match by a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 margin.
By contrast, Williams denied American Jennifer Hopkins any chance of recovery in the 40 minutes she took to win their match 6-0, 6-2.
Williams was nearly flawless in the first set, so dominating Hopkins that she lost only six of 30 points played. She went ahead 3-0 in the second set before Hopkins held serve in the fourth and sixth games.
Anna Kournikova tried to prevent Conchita Martinez from posting a 30th birthday victory, but wilted after a tight first set to give the Spaniard a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 present.
But the Russian player was happy, saying she is making progress after missing most of last year with a stress-fractured left foot.
She has lost her last four events in the first round.
- AGENCIES
