With marquee players such as Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter rested at the Australian Open yesterday, it was left to Lleyton Hewitt to provide the excitement in the men's competition. The 19-year-old did his best to scare the pants off everyone in the Rod Laver Arena but scraped through 7-5 4-6 2-6 6-3, 6-2 against Jonas Bjorkman. The Australian public remains ambivalent about Hewitt, whose brand of showy defiance is apt to rub people up the wrong way here, but they love a good scrap and Hewitt is nothing if not a scrapper. He proved it yet again by coming from two sets to one down against Bjorkman, despite an injured hamstring that puts his chances of taking his first grand slam title here in grave doubt. Hewitt injured his right hamstring in practice this week and aggravated it chasing after everything Bjorkman threw at him. With a tough draw, a lingering sinus problem and now, it seems, only one good leg, Hewitt's days here may be numbered. Life could get even harder for him in the second round, where he plays an in-form Tommy Haas, who beat him in his own backyard in Adelaide a fortnight ago. In sharp contrast to Hewitt, Haas lost only five games, beating the Chilean Nicolas Massu 6-3 6-1 6-1. Hewitt was not the only big name to struggle. Magnus Norman, who reached the semi-final here last year, started his match against Stephane Huet as though he had left his brain, and his game, in the locker room. The Swede pulled himself together eventually, winning 1-6 7-5 6-1 7-6. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, twice a finalist here, had no such problems defeating Jen Knippschild 6-1 6-4 6-2. Little wonder Kafelnikov had a grin as large as his bank balance when the draw was announced. With Sampras, Agassi, Rafter and Safin all in the other half, he knows he has a golden chance of moving stealthily through to another final."

Meanwhile, Venus Williams spent nearly as much time adjusting her dress as Martina Hingis took to reach the second round of the Australian Open yesterday. Hingis needed only 39 minutes to march past the hapless Katalin Marosi-Aracama 6-1 61. The elder Williams sister took a good deal longer, for much of the time seeming more anxious to preserve her modesty than to send her opponent, Maria Jose Martinez, packing. Williams was kitted out in a blue and black two-piece that clung in some places and gaped in others, and threatened to reveal even more of the Williams physique than Reebok intended. In between beating Martinez 6-3 2-6 6-0 with a cocktail of screaming winners and sickening errors, Williams pulled and yanked at the straps. Hingis raised a few eyebrows herself when she first revealed her new one-armed look, and insists that wearing an outfit with one short sleeve and one long one helps her hit the ball better. Her grasp of science may be questionable but her wit is as quick as ever and she could not resist a dig at Williams's new look. "I don't know if it's one of her creations or what," said Hingis, smirking. "I don't know if I would be able to wear something like that. You learn what you can wear and what you can't." Evidently Hingis feels Williams still has some learning to do, and the American could certainly take a few lessons from her rival in how to put away inferior opponents and, perhaps, in how to prepare for grand slam events. Hingis arrived in Melbourne with a string of wins under her belt, courtesy of impressive performances at the Hopman Cup and last week's tournament in Sydney. Fit, match-hardened and brimming with confidence, Hingis looked in impressive form. By contrast Williams's preparation consisted of one doubles match in Sydney and against Martinez yesterday the signs of rustiness was evident. Her sister Serena made much the same mistake here last year, arriving without a match to her name and playing abysmally as a result. This time round, having played in Sydney last week, she is in much better shape and proved it with a routine 6-1 6-4 win over Janet Lee. In by far the tougher half of the women's draw the Williams sisters and Hingis are on a collision course to meet in the latter stages. Lindsay Davenport, safely in the other half, will watch their progress with interest. Mary Pierce managed to shrug off a sore shoulder, dry eyes and various aches and pains to beat Sylvia Plischke 6-1 6-3.

Pierce, who missed much of the second half of last year with a shoulder injury, appears to be slowly regaining confidence, although her performance against Plischke was predictably patchy. She did not help herself by walking on court without her contact lenses.

Amanda Coetzer and Elena Dementieva also made their way quietly through to the second round. Coetzer, who specialises in moving unnoticed through the draw of grand slam events, beat Sonya Jeyaseelan 62 6-4. Dementieva, a younger, taller and possibly more talented version of her fellow Russian Anna Kournikova, cruised past Lilia Osterloh 6-4 6-3.