SYDNEY, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Paradorn Srichapan of Thailand continued his
surprising start to the 2002 season Tuesday by knocking off top seed Sebastien Grosjean of France,
6-3, 6-4,in the first round of the adidas International tennis event.
The 22-year-old Srichapan beat three seeds to reach the final of the Tata Open hardcourt tennis tournament last week before losing to Guillermo Canas of Argentina.
In the marquee women's match of the day, fourth-seeded American Serena Williams beat unseeded Russian Anna Kournikova, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals.
Srichapan appeared composed in dismissing Grosjean in straight sets.
Grosjean closed the 2001 season strong, winning the Tennis Masters Series in Paris and losing to Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the Tennis Masters Cup in November. The Frenchman also participated in the Davis Cup in December.
Only three of the eight seeds are left in the men's draw after the first round.
No. 2 Roger Federer of Switzerland and the fifth-seeded Canas advanced Tuesday, but No. 6 Thomas Johansson of Sweden was upset by Julien Boutter of France, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.
Federer beat Spain's Tommy Robredo in a pair of tiebreakers, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5), and Canas needed three sets to defeat qualifier Ramon Delgado, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
No. 3 Andy Roddick of the United States was the only other seeded player to make it out of the first round with a victory over Andrew Ilie on Monday.
Roddick will face Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic in the second round. Ulihrach defeated Nicolas Lapentti, 6-3, 6-1.
The Williams-Kournikova match was only the second meeting between the 20-year-old players, with Williams winning the first in the Canadian Open last year.
No. 2 Martina Hingis of Switzerland and sixth seed Amelie Mauresmo of Australia also reached the quarterfinals.
Hingis, a two-time champion here, breezed past American Lisa Raymond, 6-1, 6-1, and Mauresmo defeated Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.
Mauresmo will be matched against Williams in the quarterfinals.
In other first-round women's matches on Tuesday, fifth seed Justine Henin of Belgium beat Austria's Barbara Schett, 7-6, 6-3, and No. 7 Sandrine Testud of France defeated Tina Pisnik, 6-0, 6-2.
Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia knocked off Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, and will meet Testud in the second round Wednesday, with the winner to face Hingis.
In other men's first-round matches Tuesday, Karol Kucera of Slovakia, who won here in 1998, defeated Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; Rainer Schuettler beat fellow German Nicolas Kiefer, 6-2, 6-2; Nicolas Escude of France downed Alberto Martin, 6-1, 6-4; Andrei Pavel of Romania beat Jacobo Diaz, 7-5, 6-4; and Marcelo Rios of Chile defeated Ivan Ljubicic, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.
Xavier Malisse of Belgium took the first set from Hicham Arazi, 6-3, and advanced when the Moroccan retired due to an undisclosed injury.
