Safin and Hingis squeeze through as Venus soars

Mighty Marat Safin mustered all his energy and strained every sinew in a four-and-a-half-hour, five-set war of attrition on Tuesday before clambering past a hobbling Nicolas Kiefer into the second round of the U.S. Open.

Champion in 2000 and second seed this year, the Russian powerhouse needed all his reserves to outlast the badly-cramping German on Arthur Ashe stadium court.

Ninth seed Martina Hingis also looked far from convincing, nosing tentatively past American Marissa Irvin 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

"In a way I can be happy to still be in this tournament," said the former world number one and champion here in 1997.

But it was a different story for the defending champions at Flushing Meadows as they cruised through with ease.

Venus Williams wasted no time at all demolishing Croatia's Mirjana Lucic 6-0, 6-0 in a 50-minute whitewash and third seed Jennifer Capriati also won all 12 games of her night match, thrashing fellow American Bethanie Mattek 6-0, 6-0.

"Just played like I was on a mission," Capriati smiled afterwards. "I was on a mission to hit my shots."

Men's champion and top seed Lleyton Hewitt also looked on a mission as he crushed France's Nicolas Coutelot 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.

"I feel pretty good...every day I am feeling better," he said.

HEAVY WEATHER

Hewitt's Davis Cup colleague Mark Philippoussis saw his Open end in agony, however.

The unseeded Australian injured his problematic left knee during his first round match with Dutchman Sjeng Schalken.

Runner-up here in 1998, Philippoussis was taken for scans on his knee immediately after retiring from the match while leading by two-sets-to-one.

Safin made heavy weather of his opening match in hot and humid conditions at Flushing Meadows.

After tying up the first set he allowed Kiefer back into the match and was forced to come back from two-sets-to-one down before clinching victory 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 on his fourth match point.

"He fought really hard, played a great match," Safin said.

"I am relieved to get through that. You know he used to be ranked number four in the world...he knows how to play tennis."

Safin will next face former world number one Gustavo Kuerten after the unseeded Brazilian ousted France's Julien Boutter 3-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Philippoussis was leading his match by two-sets-to-one and was 2-2 in the fourth when his hopes were dealt a fatal blow.

KNEE BUCKLING

Leaping for a Schalken lob on Louis Armstrong court, Philippoussis landed awkwardly, his left knee buckling, and he collapsed on the ground grimacing in pain.

Philippoussis lay writhing on the court as trainer Doug Spreen was called to treat him.

The Australian finally climbed to his feet and walked gingerly round the arena before deciding to play on.

But the pain continued and Philippoussis was forced to quit while leading 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 3-5.

Philippoussis was playing in the U.S. Open for the first time since 2000. He has missed the tournament twice in the past three years because of a left knee injury, which he first sustained at Wimbledon in 1999.

He had surgery on the knee three times in 14 months -- January 2000, December 2000 and March 2001 -- and now has synthetic cartilage injected into it every six months.

After this latest setback he left the stadium to have a scan in hospital on Wednesday.

In earlier action, men's ninth seed Carlos Moya recovered from a slow start to oust Romania's Adrian Voinea 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.

The Spanish baseliner needed two hours 22 minutes to down Voinea on a sun-baked court 11 and next faces American heartthrob Jan-Michael Gambill.

Gambill booked his second round spot after just 38 minutes when his Austrian opponent Julian Knowle retired while trailing 6-1 2-1.

Andy Roddick gave home fans plenty to cheer about. The 11th-seeded American crushed Dutchman Martin Verkerk 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the night match.