Tough openers for Kuerten, Hingis

PARIS, MAY 26. Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil gets the defence of his French Open title off to a tough start with a match against up- and-coming Argentinian Guillermo Coria. In the distaff section too the top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland got the toughest match among the favourites when she was pitted against Spain's Gala Leon Garcia.

The draw made on Friday by France's World Cup-winning football manager Aime Jacquet threw up the Kuerten-Coria clash as the match of the round.

The 24-year-old Kuerten, a two-time winner at Roland Garros, has been in fine form on clay this year, but he did lose his last match in the first round in Hamburg against Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

The 19-year-old Coria is one of the most promising players in the world and is currently at 13 in the ATP Champions Race. He had been regarded as one of the most dangerous non- seeded floaters in the tournament.

There is danger also for 1999 winner and current World number one Andre Agassi. The American has drawn Sweden's Thomas Johansson who currently sits 24th in the Champions Race.

Second seed Marat Safin, showing some signs in Dusseldorf this week that he is finally returning to form after a bad back injury, looks to have a comfortable start against Austrian Markus Hipfl. Australian sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt should have little trouble against young Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, the best player in the clay court season so far, looks too strong for Stefan Koubek, while Britain's Tim Henman will face a qualifier.

On paper Hingis should win, but Garcia does have some fine performances behind her and is always a threat on clay.

The second-seeded Venus Williams of the United States, in the bottom half of the draw, goes up against Austria's Barbara Schett who reached the fourth round here last year before falling to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.

Williams normally would be too strong for the Austrian, but she has played little on the surface this year and there has to be some doubts over her ability to last the full two weeks.

The same goes for younger sister Serena, who has not played in any of the traditional build-up tournaments to Paris and whose participation has been in doubt over yet another injury.

The younger Williams, who has never got past the fourth round at the French Open, has been seeded seventh and drawn against France's Sarah Pitkowski who will have strong home support behind her.

The French will also have eyes on their main hope Amelie Mauresmo, who has been in magnificent form in recent weeks and who defeated Hingis in their last two encounters.

Mauresmo, who took this week off to recharge her batteries after losing the Rome Masters final to Yugoslav Jelena Dokic on Sunday, goes up against Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia in the first round with a projected quarterfinal against Venus Williams.

Title-holder Mary Pierce of France has pulled out with an injury as has the sixth-seeded Monica Seles of the United States, a three-time former winner.

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