Venus eases past Slovakian, Rafter wins

Sydney: All-conquering Venus Williams closed the opening day at the Olympic tennis tournament with a sparkling display that lit up the night at Olympic Park on Tuesday.

Williams extended a winning streak that has included the Wimbledon and US Open championships to 27 matches with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia.

The second seed drew oohs and ahs from the knowledgeable crowd in the 10,000-seat stadium with her all-out hitting, her volleying and dazzling court coverage.

Williams, however, said she would take nothing for granted despite her recent record.

"On any given day anyone cam come out and play unbelievable tennis," said the 20-year-old. "I have to combat this. I'm focused.

"It just seems like I win every tournament, I come out the winner. It's been real nice.

"There's a long way to go for that gold medal and a lot of opponents that want it."

Williams cracked 29 clean winners from all over the court against 10 for the Slovakian.

She seemed to hit the ball twice as hard as Nagyova and hit eight aces -- most of them in the 175-kph (110 mph) range.

Williams and Nagyova had been forced to wait more than an hour longer than expected as Romanian Andrei Pavel extended third seed Magnus Norman of Sweden in the third set before prevailing 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 10-8 in a two hour, 45 minute marathon.

Norman said he was struggling to find his best form despite targeting the Olympics all year.

"It's very special to play for my country, because it means a lot to me and it has been one of my priorities this year to play good here," he said.

"I'm just fighting... even though my form isn't that good."

Earlier, Williams's team mate Monica Seles launched the tournament with a 6-0, 6-1 battering of Hungarian Katalin Marosi-Aracama.

Rousing start

The third-seeded Seles, a native of Yugoslavia descended from Hungarian stock, consoled Marosi-Aracama at the net in her native language.

Patrick Rafter, the 13th seed, and 11th seed Mark Philippoussis got the Australian challenge off to a rousing start by posting straight-sets victories to rapturous roars on centre court.

Double US Open champion Rafter defeated American Vince Spadea 6-4, 6-3, while Philippoussis beat US Open quarter-finalist Thomas Johansson of Sweden, escaping a set point in the first-set tiebreaker on the way to a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 win.

Two women's seeds and two men's seeds failed to survive the first round.Ninth seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, another US Open quarter-finalist, was dismissed 6-4, 6-3 by France's Arnaud Di Pasquale, while 15th seed Albert Costa of Spain lost to 172nd ranked Zimbabwean Kevin Ullyett 6-3, 3-6, 11-9.

Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia upset French ninth seed Amelie Mauresmo, the 1999 Australian Open runner-up. Jana Kandarr of Germany followed by ousting 15th-seeded Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 6-4.



(c) Reuters Limited.