TENNIS/French Open: Venus Williams last night admitted she was "nervous" about the forthcoming French Open after being forced to withdraw from the Italian Open with a wrist injury.

Williams hurt her right wrist when she picked up her racket bag; beyond that she was vague about the injury or why she decided only at the 11th hour to pull out of her second-round match against Anna Kournikova.

"Hopefully it won't be very serious, hopefully I'll be able to practise soon," she said. "I'm just going to take some time off and finally see something in Rome."

Any injury two weeks before a grand slam could be fatal to her chances of participating, let alone winning at Roland Garros, so few could blame Williams for erring on the side of caution. "It somewhat makes me nervous about the French, that I won't be able to play this week and that I'll have two weeks that I can't play a tournament," she said.

Williams' withdrawal leaves her sister Serena and Jennifer Capriati as the star turns in the Italian Open. Capriati has learned that good things come to those who wait and yesterday the Australian Open champion proved it once more, winning her first match in Rome in nine years with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Maja Matevzic.

Beating an obscure Slovene qualifier in front of a crowd of about 400 may not be much to write home about. But given the last time Capriati walked off court at the Foro Italico with a smile on her face was 1993, she had reason to be delighted.

"Actually that's probably why I played so well, because I did not expect . . . to win or anything," said a beaming Capriati.

Never one for deep analysis, Capriati had little explanation for her dismal record but for one reason or another she has never enjoyed much success in Rome, despite her Italian ancestry and the quicker clay courts which ought to make her pile-driven shots even more potent.

Meanwhile, Gustavo Kuerten and Marat Safin thundered through to the second round of the Hamburg Masters as the heavyweights opened their campaigns at the $2.8 million clay court event.

Kuerten overcame a rain delay and a gutsy challenge from Nicolas Kiefer to win 6-4, 7-5 while Safin crushed Italian Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 6-4.

Kuerten, recovered from hip surgery, looked in great form. The French Open champion said: "I am happy with my play so far, but I need more time on court if I am to reach my French Open form."