TENNIS/French Open: The defending champion Gustavo Kuerten comfortably secured his place in the second round of the French Open at Roland Garros, Paris with a straight sets win over Switzerland's Ivo Heuberger.

Kuerten's bid for a fourth French Open title in six years has been hampered by injury this season, the Brazilian undergoing hip surgery at the end of February this year.

But the 25-year-old had few problems in disposing of Heuberger 7-5 6-2 6-2, interrupted only by the first rain delay of the championships for 45 minutes in the early stages of the third set.

Kuerten, bidding to become the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win a hat-trick of titles back to back, said: "I was a little bit nervous in the beginning but after the first set I think I could enjoy a little bit more of the match.

"It was a good first set. Probably I will play better next match _ that's what I hope.

"Every match you win you start to play a little bit better and then you start to put yourself into the tournament. So I think from now on I can practice a few things and improve my game." Top seed Lleyton Hewitt also came through his opening game in straight sets, defeating Brazil's Andre Sa 7-5 6-4 7-5.

"I think I can get a lot better," the US Open champion and current world number one said. "I felt like I started playing pretty well in Hamburg a couple of weeks ago.

"I didn't play the best match against Safin (losing in the quarter-finals) but apart from that I felt like I played well.

"You have to try to get through the first few rounds here. If you can keep it going, try and sneak in the second week, then anything can happen. You can hit form at any stage and I think we saw that at the US Open." Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson was another to enjoy a comfortable passage into the second round, defeating Franco Squillari 6-2 7-6 6-2.

The biggest casualty of the day came when the seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras crashed out in the first round to Andrea Gaudenzi. The former world number one had looked like taking the match into a fifth and deciding set when he served for the fourth set at 5-4.

But the 30-year-old netted a simple overhead to allow Gaudenzi to level the scores, and the Italian took the decisive tie-break to seal a 3-6 6-4 6-2 7-6 (7-3) on the stroke of 9 o'clock local time.

It means Sampras has won just three matches in his last five visits to Paris, and that he will, barring miracles, never win the only Grand Slam title to elude him.

Sampras said he would be back next year to have another go at the elusive title.

"If it never happens life will go on, and it might never happen, but you never know unless you try and I'm planning on coming back next year," he said.

"I will come back and try again but as you get older its' more difficult to get over it. Each time one goes by you have to wait another year.

"It just has not clicked for me here, it has not happened. Paris has been tough for me over the years, all I can do is keep trying.

"It's a pretty empty feeling right now and it's going to be very hard the next few days. It's pretty frustrating to put a lot of effort in and not even get in contention, not getting past the first round.

"I can only think about all the chances I had and that service game I lost at 5-4, that hurt."

One player who looks certain to challenge for the title in years to come however is French sensation Richard Gasquet.

The 15-year-old wild card gave 20th seed Albert Costa, with 11 clay court titles to his name, a real battle before losing 6-3 0-6 4-6 3-6.

Venus Williams beat the rain but was far from convincing in booking her place in the second round.

The reigning Wimbledon and US Open champion defeated Germany's Bianka Lamade in straight sets before the first rain delay of the day, but made hard work of disposing of her 19-year-old opponent.

Lamade had won just two matches on the main tour this season but had chances to take the second seed to a third set as the American made 35 unforced errors.

Williams also served six double faults and looked understandably rusty after two weeks without match practice since withdrawing from the Italian Open minutes before her opening match against Anna Kournikova with a wrist injury.

The 21-year-old will have to improve consider ably on today's display to better her previous best performance in Paris, reaching the quarter-finals in 1998.

And she will also have to hope the wrist can stand up to the strain of playing the seven matches necessary to win the title.

"It was a little tough this morning because it's so cold, it's hard to warm up," Williams said. "But once I get going I seem to do OK"

The former champion Iva Majoli also came through in straight sets, beating Kristina Brandi 6-4 6-3, and put her improved form down to being injury free for the first time in years.

"I have no injuries any more," said Majoli, who won a title on clay in Charleston earlier this year and reached the final of another clay tournament in her native Croatia three weeks ago.

"I've really been working hard on my rehab for my shoulder which has been bothering for the last two years. It feels good again to keep playing without pain".

France's Amelie Mauresmo also had a comfortable victory, beating Camille Pin 6-3 6-1 to exorcise the memories of her first round defeat last year.

Details in Sports Round-up.