NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Serena Williams, the reigning women's champion at the French Open and Wimbledon, beat Corina Morariu, who is making her way back from cancer, 6-2, 6-3, in the first night match of the U.S. Open on Monday.
Two-time champion Andre Agassi took out fellow American Robby Ginepri, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the night's other featured first-round encounter.
Before the evening session, former champions Billie Jean King and John McEnroe led a procession of flags on court during a program called "A Salute to Heroes," which honored the uniformed and civilian heroes who helped in the recovery after last September's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
The flag recovered from the World Financial Center was raised over Arthur Ashe Stadium and actor Judd Hirsch, a New York native, narrated the story of the Ground Zero "Heroes" flag.
The emotion did not stop during the pre-match ceremonies as Morariu competed in her first Grand Slam match since being diagnosed with promyelocitic leukemia in May 2001.
Morariu fought hard, but was unable to win
the big points, failing to take advantage of break point chances in the third, fifth and ninth games of the second set.
Former Open champion Lindsay Davenport, playing in her first Grand Slam of the year, needed just 43 minutes to cruise into the second round, routing Denmark's Eva Dyrberg, 6-2, 6-1. It was
Davenport's first match in a major since losing to Serena Williams in the Open quarterfinals last year.
The fourth-seeded American is playing just her fifth tournament since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on her right knee on Jan. 11. She has reached the semifinals or better in all four hardcourt events she entered heading into the Open.
No. 5 Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia and No. 8 Justin Henin of Belgium also had an easy time moving into the next round, joining a trio of Russian women -- No. 12 Elena Dementieva, a semifinalist two years ago, No. 15 Anastasia Myskina, and teenager Svetlana Kuznetsova, who ousted No. 19 Anne Kremer, 7-6, (7-3), 6-2.
Anna Kournikova lost again, being beaten by Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia, 6-3, 6-0, in just 44 minutes.
On the men's side, fourth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, who has reached the Open semifinals two of the last three years, ended a three-match skid with a 6-2, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Italy's Davide Sanguinnetti.
