NEW YORK, 1 September 2004 — Defending champion and top-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne had to fight off a surprising challenge from 126th-ranked Nicole Vaidisova and Britain’s Tim Henman needed five sets to get past Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic yesterday before moving into the second round of the US Open.

On a second day of 80-percent or worse humidity, Justine breezed through the first set 6-1 in 17 minutes. But Vaidosova rallied, breaking the Belgian twice and taking a 4-1 lead in the second set.

Justine, playing in just her second tournament after missing much of the past few months with a viral infection, composed herself to win the next five games and close out the match 6-4 in 58 minutes.

In other early matches yesterday, American Jill Craybas overpowered Tina Pisnik 6-2, 6-1, and American Lisa Raymond defeated Alina Jidkova, of Russia, 7-5, 6-3.

The fifth-seeded Henman managed only 54 percent on his first service and converted only three of 11 break points before finally subduing Karlovic, 7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Karlovic served 39 aces to Henman’s 10 in a match that took three hours, 37 minutes.

Marat Safin’s bid for a second US Open title lasted just two hours, 37 minutes as he lost 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 by Thomas Enqvist of Sweden in the first round.

The 13th-seeded Russian, who won the 2000 US Open, hit 17 aces but was outplayed by the 30-year-old Swede on the way to his earliest exit from the tournament in six visits.

Elsewhere early on the second day of the 122nd US championships, Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, the No. 24 seed, retired from his match with Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea. They split the first two sets and the third was tied 1-1 before the Croat withdrew. His injury was not disclosed.

In other men’s matches, No. 10 Nicolas Massu of Chile easily advanced with a 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 victory over Jose Acasuso of Argentina; fifteenth-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand recovered to beat Victor Hansecu of Romania 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1; and No. 22 Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia routed Spain’s Oscar Hernandez 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.

In women’s play, Russia’s 17-year-old Maria Kirilenko beat compatriot and 25th-seeded Elena Likhovtseva 7-6, 6-3, making Likhovtseva the third seeded woman to be eliminated. Eighteenth-seeded Karolina Sprem and No. 32 Meghann Shaughnessy both were upset on Monday.

Also, No. 14 Nadia Petrova easily beat China’s Jie Zheng 6-0, 6-1; No 20 Chanda Rubin of the United States beat Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-2, 6-2; France’s Mary Pierce won 6-1, 6-2 over Emile Loit of France; and 26th-seeded Elena Bovina easily overcame Spain’s Marta Marrero 6-3, 6-0.

On Monday, former World No. 1 Serena Williams’ march toward reclaiming her title began in stunning fashion when she overpowered Sandra Kleinova 6-1, 6-3 in a first round match. Williams made quick work of Kleinova, taking just 53 minutes to finish off the 26-year-old from the Czech Republic in front 23,000 at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

There were no major upsets on opening day of the $17.8 million Grand Slam event as men’s top seed Roger Federer hammered out a 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 win over 2002 French Open champ Albert Costa and sixth seed Andre Agassi defeated Robby Ginepri 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2. Agassi moves on to play either Germany’s Florian Mayer or Brazilian Flavio Saretta in the second round. Tenth seed Vera Zvonareva, of Russia, routed Slovakia’s Henrieta Nagyova 6-1, 6-1 and Jennifer Capriati came charging back to defeat Denisa Chladkova, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

On the men’s side, third seed Carlos Moya rallied to beat unheralded American Brian Baker 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 and Cyril Saulnier, of France, outlasted Britain’s Greg Rusedski 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7).

Other seeded men’s winners included, 19th seed Nicolas Kiefer, 16th seed Andrei Pavel and 25th seed Jiri Novak, of Czech Republic.

Martin Announces Retirement After Exit

American Todd Martin announced his retirement after losing to Fabrice Santoro of France in the first round on Monday.

The 34-year-old bowed out with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 defeat and made the announcement to the fans who had stayed late into the evening for his match in the Louis Armstrong Stadium.

“This might be a big mistake, I might be in tears at any moment,” Martin told the crowd.

“It’s been a pleasure playing in front of you.”

Martin gave special thanks to his family and his support group. “I’m one of the lucky guys who ran into some people who knew a lot about the game, cared and shared their knowledge with me, otherwise I would never have been here in the first place. I thank you all.”

Martin reached two grand-slam finals, the Australian Open in 1994 and the U.S. Open in 1999, although he will also be remembered for losing a 5-1 lead in the deciding set of his Wimbledon semifinal against fellow American MaliVai Washington in 1996.