Monica Seles made a triumphant return to Grand Slam tournament tennis today, defeating Nicole Arendt 6-2, 6-0 in the first match of the U.S. Open.
Seles, who won the Australian and French Opens before causing an international sensation by skipping Wimbledon and dropping out of sight for several weeks, had an easy time in this match, sweeping the final nine games."It's always tough to play in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament," she said. "I had heard about her but I had not seen her."
Asked if she had any more of a scouting report, Seles giggled. "Who should I ask?" she said.
Following the French, Seles lost in the final of the Mazda Classic to Jennifer Capriati before winning her last tournament, the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles.
Seeded second in the Open behind Steffi Graf, who was to play her opening match tonight against Andrea Temesvari, Seles neded just 51 minutes to eliminate Arendt. She said she was not bothered by the shin splints that kept her out of Wimbledon.
"I am still doing therapy every day, stretching and exercising," Seles said. "The doctor said you never recover. There's always a chance it will come back. You have to exercise every day.
"Physically, I'm slowly coming back."
The match was the first on the Stadium Court at the National Tennis Center. Sabatini, the defending women's champion who is seeded No. 3, opened on the Grandstand court against Nicole Provis, and Capriati, the No. 7 seed, was scheduled to go against Eva Plaff later today.
The first seed to go out was No. 13 Andrei Cherkasov, a straight-set loser to Jonas Svensson, 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, 6-2. Unseeded Michael Chang, the 1989 French Open champion, defeated Mark Woodforde 6-3, 6-0, 6-2.
Other seeds in featured matches today were No. 8 Andre Agassi against Aaron Krickstein, No. 16 John McEnroe facing Glenn Layendecker and No. 7 Guy Forget against Marcos Ondruska in an evening match.
Defending men's champion Pete Sampras, seeded No. 6, was scheduled to play the final match of the day, facing Christo van Rensburg.