TENNIS: Justine Henin, the Belgian eighth seed, struggled with her serve but still trounced Samantha Reeves 6-1, 6-2 in an hour and seven minutes as the US Open got underway at Flushing Meadows in New York yesterday.
A first-serve percentage of 46% will have disappointed the usually meticulous Henin, and she also served eight double faults, but last year's Wimbledon finalist was a comfortable winner.
Henin, like Lindsay Davenport, has had to battle with injuries having fractured her left ring finger last month at Stanford.
"I'm pretty happy to win 6-1 6-2," said Henin. "It's important to be fresh mentally and physically for the rest of the tournament."
There was an early exit for 1994 champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, a fading force on the women's tour this year.
The Spanish 25th seed was thrashed 6-3 6-1 by French qualifier Marion Bartoli, a 17-year-old with a current world ranking of 231.
Other seeds making early progress to round two were Thailand's number 27 Tamarine Tanasugarn and Russia's 12th seed Elena Dementieva, and eighth seed Anastasia Myskina.
Another shock came when Anne Kremer of Luxembourg - the 19th seed - was defeated by impressive young Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The 17-year-old Kuznetsova won 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 on an outer court for her first ever singles win at a Slam.
She made her debut at the Australian Open this spring when still 16, but failed to qualify for both the French Open and Wimbledon, and almost fell in qualifying last Friday when she was pushed to a tie-break in the deciding set against Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy.
Despite her high seeding, Kremer has never gone past the second round in New York.
The first man to reach round two was South African veteran Wayne Ferreira who enjoyed a 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Jan Vacek of the Czech Republic.
He was soon joined by French Open champion Albert Costa. The Spaniard was given a tough draw, with Swede Magnus Norman his opponent. But the Swede, who spent much of 2000 in the top 10, was well below his best form and Costa won through 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to prove himself a classy performer away from his favoured clay.
There was an early casualty among the men's seeds, with Romanian Andrei Pavel succumbing to Israeli Harel Levy - a player ranked a lowly 321st in the world.
Pavel was seeded 30th, but Levy outbattled him over five sets to reach round two at the third attempt in his career.
The 24-year-old Levy, who was once ranked 30th in the world himself, had won just one ATP tour match this year but defeated Pavel 1-6, 7-6 (9/7), 4-6, 6-3 6-4 in a marathon match out on court seven.
Aside from a fourth-set blip, Roger Federer looked strong as he overcame the challenge posed by Czech Jiri Vanek.
The Swiss 13th seed sped through the first two sets but then appeared to lose his focus and had to settle for a 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 win.
Federer's next opponent will be crowd favourite Michael Chang, the 1996 beaten finalist and a former champion at Roland Garros.
He is not among this year's seeds but could be a dangerous "floater" in the draw, and Federer will be aware of his threat.
The American, now 30, squeezed past Spain's Francisco Clavet with a 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) outcome to their match.
The 20th seed, Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui ended Jeff Morrison's tournament early.
Morrison sprung to prominence at Wimbledon when he thrashed Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round.
However, yesterday served as a wake-up call for the 23-year-old from West Virginia, who slipped to a 6-7 (8/6), 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 defeat.
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