Hingis cool and confident in chilly Paris

May 31, 2006 - 0:0
PARIS (Reuters) -- Martina Hingis was afforded a cold reception on her return to the French Open on Tuesday but thankfully for the Swiss the unseasonable temperature, not the crowd, was the source of her discomfort.

The Swiss, back at Roland Garros after a five-year absence, trounced American Lisa Raymond 6-2 6-2 in a first round match played in a temperature of little more than 10 degrees Celsius.

The claycourt event is the only grand slam missing from her collection and in 1999 she was mocked by the Paris crowd after throwing a tantrum during her defeat in the final by Steffi Graf. On Tuesday, though, the 25-year-old was all sunny smiles, despite the weather. "I was like ouff!" said Hingis. "But I'm from a cold country so it shouldn't be such a big factor. I know it's snowing at home or it's supposed to."

The 12th seed, who reached the Australian Open quarterfinals at the start of the year and won her first title since returning after a three-year break at the Italian Open this month, plays German Julia Schruff in round two.

She is on a quarterfinal collision course with second seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium but is determined not to raise expectations. "I'm not even close to being there holding the trophy, being the champion," she said. "I don't want to put any extra pressure on me because I don't need to."

Russia's 2004 champion Anastasia Myskina, seeded 10 this year, outclassed Indian Sania Mirza 6-4 6-1 in another of Tuesday's early matches.

Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus advanced to round two with a four-set win over Spain's Albert Portas.

Later Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne opens the defense of her women's singles title against Maret Ani of Estonia, the world number 70. In-form Russian third seed Nadia Petrova is also in action.

American fifth seed Andy Roddick and Australian Lleyton Hewitt both test their recent ankle injuries when they open their campaigns while Russian Marat Safin faces a tough first-round match against Chilean ninth seed Fernando Gonzalez.