Agassi, Rafter have it easy

Second seed Andre Agassi, the star attraction on the opening night of the U.S. Open, enhanced his reputation as the king of floodlit tennis with an easy victory over American qualifier Mike Bryan on Monday.

The twice former U.S. Open champion got stronger as the night wore on, posting a 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 victory in 75 minutes to improve his career record under the lights at the National Tennis Center to an eye-popping 19-2.

"To me it's the greatest arena to play tennis in, the night match at the Open. I've always loved it, I love the energy. I've had nothing but great experiences and it's a great way to start," said the 1994 and 1999 champion.

Bryan gave a good account of himself in the early exchanges, breaking Agassi's first service game.

But once the 31-year-old Agassi got going, there was no slowing him. He stormed through the third set in a mere 18 minutes with the loss of just eight points.

"There was no letting up, he's like a shark out there," Bryan said. "He has so much depth and his angles take you so far outside the court, it's hard to hit it."

In a bit of eerie symmetry, Mike Bryan's identical twin Bob also drew a double U.S. Open champion as his first-round opponent -- sixth seed Patrick Rafter.

The popular Australian dispatched Bob Bryan 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 7-5 earlier on the opening day of the year's final Grand Slam tournament.

RAFTER'S RELIEF

"To get out of it in straight sets was a relief, that's for sure," said Rafter who lost five-set first-round matches here the past two years after lifting the U.S. Open trophy in 1998 and 1997.

"It does feel good to actually be in the tournament for a change," joked Rafter who could be playing the final Grand Slam of his career.

The 28-year-old serve-and-volley wizard, who has reached the final of his last four tournaments, including Wimbledon, plans to take at least six months off tennis after this season as he contemplates retirement.

Owner of probably the most deft net game in tennis, Rafter produced 52 volley winners in his victory.

Marat Safin launched his title defence with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over French qualifier Sebastien De Chaunac.

The 21-year-old Russian, who beat Pete Sampras last year to capture his first Grand Slam crown, has struggled through a difficult and disappointing season without a single title to his credit after winning a tour-best seven last year.

While the 6-foot-4-inch (1.93m) Safin looked impressive on his return to the scene of his greatest triumph, the win apparently did little to ease his crisis of confidence.

"It's gonna be a miracle if I can win here because of the way I played all year," Safin said.

Briton Tim Henman looked well on the way to emulating the straight-sets wins of his seeded peers but turned out to be a glutton for punishment.

The ninth seed squandered a two-set lead before pulling out a 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 3-6, 6-3 victory over Czech qualifier Jan Vacek in three hours and 53 minutes.

HENMAN WAIT

To add to the unnecessary drama, Henman had to wait for a one hour and 45 minute rain delay at 4-3 in the fifth set before finishing off Vacek.

"I would like to have finished it off in the third set, wasn't able to do that, obviously, and it became a struggle after that," Henman said.

A quartet of former champions -- Martina Hingis (1997), Lindsay Davenport (1998), Monica Seles (1991, 1992) and Serena Williams (1999) -- all moved safely into the second round of the women's singles.

Top seed Hingis taught double U.S. collegiate champion Laura Granville a thing or two about Grand Slam life with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition in 46 minutes.

Third seed Davenport was two minutes faster in putting away German Andrea Glass 6-2, 6-3 while Seles, the seventh seed, also needed less than an hour to overpower Australian Nicole Pratt 6-1, 6-2.

But Williams, sporting an outfit in New York taxi cab yellow, hit a bump in the road on the way to the second round.

The 10th seed needed to shake off some opening night jitters before ousting 95th-ranked German Anca Barna 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the tournament's opening floodlit match.

"I was maybe a little bit too nervous in the first set," admitted the American, whose over-hitting produced 23 unforced errors in the opening set.

But Williams added: "It never crossed my mind that I was going to lose."

Other winners included sixth-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Justine Henin of Belgium, 12th-seeded American Meghann Shaughnessy, who needed a third-set tie-break to get past Italy's Rita Grande, and 14th seed Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia.

Fourth seed Venus Williams opens her title defence on Tuesday against Slovakian qualifier Lenka Dlhopolcova.