Arthurs stuns Kuerten

Wayne Arthurs, a 102nd-ranked Australian qualifier, stunned French Open champion and second seed Gustavo Kuerten 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1) on Tuesday in an opening round shocker at the US Open.

The hard-serving Aussie fired 26 aces, the last of them on match point at 134 mph and hit 69 winners to upset the ATP champions race leader in two hours and 32 minutes.

"If he plays anybody in the draw like this he could win," Kuerten said. "Nobody is going to beat him easily. He's a very tough opponent to play in the first round. The serve, I could not break it. It was strong. I couldn't find a way to beat him."

The 29-year-old left-hander from Adelaide is most famous for winning 111 consecutive service games over 19 sets last year at Wimbledon, starting with three qualifying matches and ending in a fourth-round loss to Andre Agassi.

Serena Williams opened the defence of her US Open title by ousting Slovenia's Tina Pisnik 6-3, 6-2 in 59 minutes while another US Olympian, Australian Open champion and second seed Lindsay Davenport, took only 44 minutes to knock out Spain's 29th-ranked Gala Leon Garcia 6-0, 6-1.

"It's nice to feel like you're playing well and get through the first match pretty easy," Davenport said. "I was happy to get out there and get it over with quickly."

Arthurs was a first-round loser in his three prior Grand Slam starts this year and had been a second-round loser in his two previous US Open starts.

He will next face another Aussie, 75th-ranked Jason Stoltenberg, and could then meet compatriot Richard Fromberg in round three.

Only 10-15 in ATP matches this year, Arthurs won 63 of 70 first-serve points and denied Kuerten on 8-of-9 break-point chances, seven in the last two sets, using his overpowering serve to keep "Guga" a spectator much of the time.

Kuerten, who turns 24 on the day of the US Open men's final, was only the the second number two seed ousted in round one ever at the Open, joining the 1994 exit of Goran Ivanisevic, who made another first-round departure on Tuesday.

Ivanisevic, two weeks shy of his 29th birthday, lost to Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, 6-0. The three-time Wimbledon runner-up from Croatia grabbed a 5-1 lead in the first 16 minutes, then lost 20 of 22 games in the next 65 minutes.

In another shocker twice US Open champion Patrick Rafter was beaten 7-6, 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 by little-known Spaniard Galo Blanco.

Advancing with ease was 17-year-old Australian Jelena Dokic, who ousted Israel's 41st-ranked Anna Smashnova 6-1, 6-0. Dokic, rated 43rd, was defeated by Davenport in last month's Wimbledon semi-finals.

"I played better than I thought I would," Dokic said. "I couldn't play much better than I did today."

Dokic's cause was aided when Dutchwoman Miriam Oremans made 16th seed Julie Halard-Decugis the first seed ousted from the 15 million-dollar event, beating the Frenchwoman 6-3, 6-4. Dokic will face 93rd-ranked Oremans next.

"She must have played well to have beaten Halard," Dokic said. "It could be just as tough as playing a seed."

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