Henin Takes a Tentative Step Past Teenager

The opening week of the US Open is turning into one of denial for the top women - denial that the Williams sisters are missing.

The two Belgians, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne, together with France's Amélie Mauresmo and the Americans Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati, know well enough that their chances of winning the title have increased a thousandfold. Yet all are studiously chanting the mantra "one match at a time" in the fervent hope that the unexpected does not strike them down prematurely.

Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion, had good reason to be a little tentative yesterday, having never progressed beyond the last 16 here in four attempts. Moreover her first-round opponent, Aniko Kapros of Hungary, had beaten her in the first round at Roland Garros last year, winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-0, although the Belgian was far from well that day.

The vast Arthur Ashe stadium, packed for Pete Sampras's farewell the previous evening, was barely a quarter full, with a somnolent atmosphere pervading. This was accentuated by the 19-year-old Hungarian's second serve, with the ball appearing to fall asleep before it went over the net.

Try as she might, Henin-Hardenne was generally unable to pulverise it in the first set and once Kapros engaged in a rally there was little to choose between the two, even though the Hungarian's ranking is 126 places lower than the Belgian's world No3. "I'm not used to that kind of serve, and it's very difficult to cope with or punish."

Kapros ran everything down and hit double-fisted backhands, taking the ball at the top of its bounce, with extreme ferocity. Henin-Hardenne had a genuine fight on her hands and twice lost a two-game lead in the first set at 4-2 and 5-3. "Come on Kapros," boomed a stentorian voice, the owner of which had probably never heard of the Hungarian teenager before the match. But 5-5 was as good as it got for Kapros against the No2 seed, Henin-Hardenne winning 7-5, 6-3.

But caution prevailed. "It is a big opportunity for all the players, not just me, and it's far too early to be talking about who will win this tournament," said Henin-Hardenne.

Lleyton Hewitt, not noted for his patience, was forced to wait in the locker room while New York, and more particularly live television, made its emotion-packed goodbye to Sampras. But for all his feisty on-court attitude, the 22-year-old Australian has a genuine feel for the game's history, and for the unique place of Sampras within that history.

Hewitt has not had a particularly good year, losing his Wimbledon crown and his place as world No1. But he did not forget that he was the last player to defeat Sampras in the Arthur Ashe stadium, in the 2001 final. "A guy like Pete only comes round once in a lifetime, and I'm fortunate to have done what I did."

Hewitt opened with a routine 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Romania's Victor Hanescu, who at 6ft 6in had the potential to cause him the same problems he failed to overcome against Croatia's Ivo Karlovic (6ft 10in) in the first round at Wimbledon. "To take care of him that easily was pretty pleasing," said a delighted Hewitt on a night when understatement was in limited supply. But the superlatives heaped on Sampras were both deserved and genuine.

Greg Rusedski's first-round defeat was not entirely a surprise given his injury-ridden year, but it was the nature of the five-set loss to the Frenchman Gregory Carraz which was the most worrying. To put it cruelly Rusedski, who will drop out of the world top 100 after this tournament, appeared a busted flush, with his major weapon, his serve, devoid of its cutting edge.

He blamed the defeat on his return of service before eventually admitting he was having a problem with his serve. He argued that it was a question of strength and fitness and denied there was any further physical problem, although he was obviously limping during the fifth set.

Roger Taylor, Britain's Davis Cup captain, was clearly worried and can only hope that Rusedski will be fully fit for the World Group qualifier against Morocco next month.