NEW YORK, Aug 27: Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick rubber-stamped their credentials as U.S. Open favourites on Tuesday, keeping the stars and stripes flying high over Flushing Meadows.

Hours after American pair Pete Sampras and Michael Chang turned their backs on tennis, Agassi and Roddick hammered out emphatic messages on centre court.

Top seed Agassi smashed Spain’s Alex Corretja off the court for the loss of only five games while Roddick pulverised Tim Henman 6-3 7-6 6-3.

Agassi, twice a champion here and runner-up to Sampras last year, reached the second round 6-1 6-2 6-2, demolishing a player once ranked as high as two in the world.

“He knows how to win big matches so I just wanted to step up my game and make sure I executed well,” Agassi told reporters. “Today I got through it.”

Roddick got through it too, proving too canny for Briton Henman.

In the women’s draw, Jennifer Capriati showed her desire to capitalise on the absence of the Williams sisters by pummelling Spain’s Cristina Torrens Valero 6-0 6-1 in the first round.

With Serena and Venus Williams missing through injury, sixth seed Capriati is a leading contender for the title and she was in sublime form during her 35-minute victory over Torrens Valero.

The American, unveiling a new blue dress covered in white stars, lit up the night sky at Flushing Meadows in the first match of the evening session.

Despite enduring an indifferent season, the 27-year-old said she had developed as a player since her grand slam-winning years of 2001 and 2002.

The Belgian followed her compatriot and top seed Kim Clijsters, a winner on Monday, into the second round with a 7-5 6-3 triumph over Hungary’s Aniko Kapros.

Henin-Hardenne needed to dust off every weapon in her impressive armoury against the tennis equivalent of a brick wall.

Chang, the 1989 French Open champion, brought the curtain down on his career with a 6-3 7-5 5-7 6-4 first-round defeat at the hands of 15th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in his 17th U.S. Open.

“New York means so much to me, playing here means so much to me,” the 31-year-old said.

Thai 11th seed Paradorn Srichaphan overcame illness to beat France’s Cyril Saulnier 2-6 6-2 6-3 7-6.

Kapros, while never likely to punch holes in Henin-Hardenne’s game, ran and ran, chasing every ball and harrying her classy opponent in the opening match of the day.

The 129th-ranked Kapros continually threw up lobs, scrambled groundstrokes back and confounded the French Open champion’s best efforts at clean winners throughout the 88-minute centre-court contest.

The Hungarian’s short, clubbed shots were a world away from the silken strokes of Henin-Hardenne, but for efficiency and determination she could not be faulted.

Ultimately those qualities were not enough and the Belgian world number three pulled away.

She will next face Croatian Silvija Talaja, who earlier ousted Madagascar’s Dally Randriantefy 6-3 6-0.

Yugoslav Jelena Dokic put in a solid performance to beat Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-4 6-2 while France’s Mary Pierce scored a 6-3 6-2 win over German Stephanie Gehrlein.

Tuesday results:

Men’s first round:

Hicham Arazi bt Jeff Salzenstein 6-1 7-6 (7-4) 6-3; Andy Roddick bt Tim Henman 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-3; Dmitry Tursunov bt Gustavo Kuerten 5-7 6-2 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-1); Xavier Malisse bt Olivier Rochus 6-3 6-4 6-2; Ivo Karlovic bt Felix Mantilla 6-4 6-4 6-4; Flavio Saretta bt Vincent Spadea 6-3 6-1 5-7 7-6 (10-8); Ivan Ljubicic bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4 6-2 7-5; Agustin Calleri bt Werner Eschauer 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) 1-6 6-4; Alberto Martin bt Olivier Mutis 6-0 6-3 6-1; Albert Costa bt Raemon Sluiter 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-3; Lars Burgsmueller bt Luis Horna 6-4 4-6 3-6 7-5 6-1; Andre Agassi bt Alex Corretja 6-1 6-2 6-2; Sjeng Schalken bt Julien Boutter 6-2 6-3 6-2; Nicolas Lapentti bt Karol Beck 4-6 6-3 7-5 3-6 6-4; John van Lottum bt Christophe Rochus 6-0 6-2 6-2; Fernando Gonzalez bt Michael Chang 6-3 7-5 5-7 6-4; Radek Stepanek bt Feliciano Lopez 6-4 6-4 6-4; Fabrice Santoro bt Julien Benneteau 0-6 7-5 6-2 6-2; Yevgeny Kafelnikov bt Kristof Vliegen 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 6-2; Nicolas Kiefer bt Franco Squillari 6-3 5-0 retired; Paradorn Srichaphan bt Cyril Saulnier 2-6 6-2 6-3 7-6 (7-4); Dominik Hrbaty bt Justin Gimelstob 6-3 6-4 6-2; Rainer Schuettler bt Wayne Arthurs 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4; Juan Ignacio Chela bt Roko Karanusic 6-4 7-6 (7-2) 6-3.

Women’s first round:

Maria Sharapova bt Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-1; 6-1; Ludmila Cervanova bt Elena Bovina 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4; Silvia Farina Elia bt Maria Emilia Salerni 6-4 6-1; Tatiana Perebiynis bt Marta Marrero 6-1 6-4; Jennifer Capriati bt Cristina Torrens Valero 6-0 6-1; Elena Dementieva bt Alena Vaskova 6-2 6-3; Nathalie Dechy bt Bethanie Mattek 3-6 6-4 6-4; Emilie Loit bt Alexandra Stevenson 6-2 5-7 6-4; Martina Sucha bt Marissa Irvin 6-2 7-6 (7-5); Anna Pistolesi bt Claudine Schaul 7-6 (7-5) 6-2; Samantha Reeves bt Iveta Benesova 6-1 6-1; Nicole Pratt bt Jill Craybas 7-5 6-0; Arantxa Parra bt Klara Koukalova 6-2 1-6 6-2; Francesca Schiavone bt Eva Fislova 6-4 6-4; Dinara Safina bt Carly Gullickson 7-5 6-2; Amy Frazier bt Shenay Perry 6-3 6-1; Katarina Srebotnik bt Maureen Drake 0-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1; Antonella Serra Zanetti bt Stephanie Foretz 3-6 7-5 6-4; Tina Pisnik bt Angela Haynes 6-4 6-2; Tathiana Garbin bt Mara Santangelo 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4; Anastasia Myskina bt Henrieta Nagyova 6-2 3-6 6-1; Shinobu Asagoe bt Magdalena Maleeva 6-4 6-3; Virginie Razzano bt Gala Leon Garcia 6-1 6-0; Maria Sanchez Lorenzo bt Yulia Beygelzimer 7-6 (12-10) 7-5; Justine Henin-Hardenne bt Aniko Kapros 7-5 6-3; Magui Serna bt Cho Yoon-jeong 3-6 6-2 6-1; Saori Obata bt Tian Tian Sun 6-2 7-5; Jelena Dokic bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-4 6-2; Mary Pierce bt Stephanie Gehrlein 6-3 6-2; Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian bt Marlene Weingartner 6-3 6-1; Ai Sugiyama bt Conchita Martinez Granados 6-1 6-0; Silvija Talaja bt Dally Randriantefy 6-3 6-0.—Reuters