WASHINGTON, 30 July 2003 — Australia’s Scott Draper, struggling to crack the ATP top 100 since his wife’s death in 1999, extended his best run since the tragedy by beating Todd Martin here on Monday at the ATP Washington Classic.

Draper, ranked 103rd, ousted the 93-rated American 6-3, 6-4 in a first-round match at the $600,000 hardcourt event, a tuneup for next month’s US Open.

Coming off an Indianapolis quarterfinal showing that was his best result of the year, Draper is on the verge of cracking the ATP top 100 for the first time since July 19, 1999, the same day his wife Kellie died of cystic fibrosis.

“It’s a part of my life that affected my tennis,” Draper said. “I couldn’t be competitive on the tennis court. But it has been four years. That’s time. Time heals all wounds.

“It’s not that I don’t think about my dead wife. But I have moved on. I’m playing well. I’m feeling good. I have a girlfriend. Life is good.”

The 29-year-old Aussie was ranked as high as 42 in May of 1999 but plunged to 118th just a week after his wife’s death because he lost ranking points from a 1998 runner-up showing here, the last time Draper has played in an ATP final.

A rain delay of 3 1 2 hours interrupted three matches, delayed four others and postponed four more until Tuesday, when seeds begin play. The 16 top-ranked players received byes into the second round of the hardcourt event.

American Alex Kim beat 561st-ranked Miles MacLagan 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), denying the British qualifier his first ATP victory since 1997 and first ever outside of England.

Carraz reached a career-best 100th in the ATP rankings Monday and celebrated with a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory over Israel’s Harel Levy to book a second-round date with Blake, who beat Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan here in the 2002 final.

Top seed Andre Agassi’s second-round foe will be 123rd-ranked Swiss veteran Ivo Heuberger, who beat US qualifier Thomas Blake 6-3, 6-3.

Wild card Mike Bryan beat fellow American Andrew Carlson 6-1, 6-3 while his brother Bob waited through a rain delay between sets before downing US college champion Amer Delic 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

Hewitt Returns to Court for First Time Since Wimbledon

In Los Angeles, top seed Lleyton Hewitt and three-time French Open champ Gustavo Kuerten return to the ATP tour this week for the first time since both suffered stunning early exits last month at Wimbledon.

Australia’s Hewitt did not play a singles match on Monday as first round action kicked off at the $380,000 Mercedes-Benz Cup.

But he did take to the court for his first doubles appearance, teamming with fellow Aussie Mark Philippoussis to beat Wayne Ferreira and Justin Gimelstob 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Hewitt, who won Wimbledon in 2002, was to begin singles the next day when he squares off against American Cecil Mamiit.

It will be the 22-year-old Australian’s first match since his stunning first round loss at last month’s Wimbledon to unheralded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.

Like Hewitt, fourth seed Gustavo Kuerten is making his first appearance since losing at Wimbledon.

None of the top eight seeds were in action Monday.

American Eric Taino provided the first upset, rallying to beat Hyung-taik Lee 3-6, 7-6 (7 5), 6-2. Taino advances to the second round where he will face either Kuerten or Canada’s Fred Niemeyer. Kuerten is Taino’s doubles partner at this event.

In other first round matches on Monday, American Alex Bogomolov routed Ricardo Mello of Brazil, 6-3, 6-2; Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark edged American wild card Bobby Reynolds 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3); Jan Vanek of the Czech Republic defeated Kevin Kim of the US 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Pierce Powers Through at Acura Classic, Serena Pulls Out

In Carlsbad, California, former French and Australian Open champion Mary Pierce crushed fellow Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-1, 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round of the $1 million Acura Classic.

But world number one Serena Williams pulled out of the tournament because of an injury to her left knee.

WTA Tour official Darrell Fry said that, after Williams was examined in Los Angeles, her doctor told her that she needed to rest. The Wimbledon champion also pulled out of last week’s Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California with pain in her left knee.

Pierce was lethal against Razzano, controlling the centre of the court with her hard groundstrokes and dictating with her return of serve. Pierce, who also won the 1995 Australian Open, said she felt better than she had in three years. Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual beat Russia’s Alina Jidkova 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 to earn a clash with second-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters, who won the Bank of the West Classic title.

Magui Serna of Spain also advanced after beating Laura Granville of US 6-3, 6-3.

Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou overcame Italy’s Rita Grande 7-5, 6-3 and was to face third seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium the next day.