Davenport celebrates her return to Australia

Sydney: Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport celebrated her return to Australia and the Olympic stage by beating Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-2, 6-2 to open Wednesday's tennis programme at Windy Olympic Park.

Australian Open champion Davenport, cheered on by the centre court crowd as if she were one of Sydney's own, launched her defence of the Olympic title she claimed four years ago in Atlanta by powering past Suarez.

But two men's seeds fell in the early action.

Tim Henman, the seventh seed, was ousted 6-3, 6-2 by Karol Kucera of Slovakia, who fired passing shots past the net-charging Briton like a marksman in their centre court match.

Marcelo Rios, the 12th seed from Chile, also failed to deliver as he was upset by Argentina's Mariano Zabaleta 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 7-5.

Davenport completed a formidable first-round performance by the powerful US women's singles squad.

Davenport, Wimbledon and US Open champion Venus Williams, the second seed, and third-seeded Monica Seles, winner of nine grand slam crowns, have advanced to the second round with a combined loss of nine games.

"It's great to be back here," said Davenport. "I always seem to play well in Australia. Maybe it's the friendliness of the people."

Fell at the first

Another local favourite, however, fell at the first hurdle. Australia's Andrew Ilie was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Fernando Vicente of Spain.

"I'm very disappointed, not only for me," said Ilie, the fourth man on a singles team that includes medals contenders Patrick Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis.

"I'm really disappointed that I couldn't bring more of a tennis game for those that supported me. I couldn't come up with the goods on the day."

Also reaching the second round were American Jeff Tarango and Sweden's Mikael Tillstrom. Tarango nearly whitewashed the unranked Diego Camacho of Bolivia, winning 6-0, 6-1, while Tillstrom defeated 1996 bronze medallist Leander Paes 6-2, 6-4.

Advances on the women's side included Rossana de los Rios of Paraguay, who upset Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-0. De los Rios will next play Davenport.