PARIS, 26 May 2004 — Roger Federer and Serena Williams erased miserable Roland Garros memories yesterday by easing into the French Open second round.

By contrast, Martina Navratilova made an inglorious return to grand slam singles life. The 47-year-old lost 6-1, 6-3 to Argentine Gisela Dulko 20 years after winning her second and last French title.

Federer revealed a granite will beneath his gentle exterior with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 battering of Belgian Kristof Vliegen while Serena trounced Iveta Benesova 6-2, 6-2.

Defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has been taking painkiller injections for sore ribs, rallied to beat Tommy Haas of Germany 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2.

Three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten, seeded 28th, needed three hours to beat qualifier Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-5, 7-6 (2), 1-6, 3-6,

Men’s top seed Federer spent just 75 minutes dismantling Vliegen’s meager defenses and overcame a psychological stumbling block along the way. The Wimbledon and Australian Open champion had lost in the first round in 2002 and 2003. Fabrice Santoro beat fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the longest singles match in modern tennis history. The 6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 3-6, 16-14 battle took six hours 33 minutes. The longest match since tennis turned professional in 1968 had been a Davis Cup tie between American John McEnroe and Sweden’s Mats Wilander in 1982, which lasted six hours 22 minutes.

Serena’s victory was especially sweet.

The American second seed had fled the same arena in tears last year when a jeering French crowd and an inspired Justine Henin-Hardenne had proved too much for her to handle. But on a glorious Parisian afternoon, the former world number one, radiant in a pink outfit and with a red flower in her hair, swept past the Czech with imperious ease.

She blew kisses to the French crowd and waved at the stands at the end of a typically one-sided encounter, suggesting she harbored no hard feelings.

Her elder sister Venus, like Serena a former world No. 1, advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn.

The 23-year-old, beaten by Serena in the 2002 final, showed little sign of the ankle injury that had hampered her preparations for the tournament on Court Suzanne Lenglen but looked short of her best form.

Venus lost her opening service game but quickly recovered to claim the first set. After the American established a 4-0 lead in the second set she twice lost serve to love to let Tanasugarn back into the match before wrapping up victory in one hour 11 minutes.

“I’m not in general so pleased,” she said. “I would like to do better but it is round two now.”

Former women’s champion and seventh seed Jennifer Capriati also advanced, beating Ukraine’s Yulia Beygelzimer 6-2 4-6 6-4.

Former world No. 1 Marat Safin also advanced after his Argentine opponent Agustin Calleri pulled out injured.

The former world No. 1, seeded 20th, was leading 5-7, 6-1, 4-1 when Calleri called it quits.

Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, seeded 12th, beat Arnaud di Pasquale 6-0 7-6 4-6 6-1.

Last year’s surprise runner-up Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands, seeded 19, won his opening match 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 against France’s Julien Boutter. The big-hitting Dutchman demonstrated how at home he felt at Roland Garros, slamming down 11 aces on his way to victory over the wildcard. “It feels like home a little bit,” said 25-year-old Verkerk. “It’s nice to be back in Paris and I’m enjoying it. If you’re a finalist it’s never nice to lose in the first round.”

But German seventh seed Rainer Schuettler was dumped out by Belgium’s Xavier Malisse 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

Former women’s champion Mary Pierce, the 30th seed, had little problem dispatching Luxembourg’s Claudine Schaul 6-2, 6-3 in 74min and next meets Spain’s Gala Leon Garcia.

But former world No. 5 Daniela Hantuchova’s woes continued as she was dumped 6-1, 6-3 by Japan’s Shinobu Asagoe who next meets 16th seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

The defeat means Hantuchova is likely to drop out of the world’s top 50 when the new rankings are produced in 13 days’ time. She had been ranked as high as five in the world less than 18 months ago.

South Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee, who was handed a lucky loser’s spot in the first round, celebrated his good fortune with a 0-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 win against Sweden’s Robin Soderling. The 28-year-old, ranked 123 in the world, had originally lost in the final qualifying round but won a late reprieve when Dutchman Sjeng Schalken pulled out with a virus.