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NCAA champion aces test in her pro debut

NEW YORK -- NCAA champion Bea Bielik, making her professional debut as a wild card at the U.S. Open, was in the midst of a rather ordinary match against Renata Voracova when she suddenly took it to another level.

Bielik finished the 6-4, 6-4 victory with four straight aces.

"Being in that situation, to serve out the match, I knew that I wanted to put some pressure on her to come up with the winner," she said. "I knew if I came up with some deep first serves that I would be on the offensive.

"Luckily, I didn't have to deal with returns."

STILL SWINGING: Michael Chang had one of his typical three-hour matches, defeating Francisco Clavet 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Chang, playing in his 55th Grand Slam event, has not won a major since the 1989 French Open, when he was 17. "For me, I'm through the first round," Chang said. "It's one under the belt, so I feel good. I don't know if a whole lot of people expect me to win anymore. I realize I'm in the twilight of my career. We want to give it our last good run, our last good effort."

LOSING STREAK INTACT: Anna Kournikova's return to the U.S. Open lasted one match.

Still without a tournament victory in her professional career, Kournikova lost 6-3, 6-0 to Angelique Widjaja.

"I didn't play well," Kournikova said. "It was a very bad match for me. I played totally the wrong way. I was going for winners after the second shot. I just was not in the match."

Kournikova missed last year's tournament because of injury and was looking forward to her return.

"It was fun coming back, being here again," she said. "I didn't give myself a good show. I didn't expect it to be this way. I made a million mistakes. I set up the point and when I had to put it away, I was missing it. I didn't expect it to be that easy for her. I felt like I tried everything and nothing was going my way. It's not like I play like I played today all the time."

SHIFTING SPEEDS: French Open champion Albert Costa, a clay-court specialist, made a seamless switch to the speedier hard courts with a 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Magnus Norman.

But Costa, ranked No. 8 in the world, will have a lot to prove if he wants to win a second major at the USTA National Tennis Center. The 27-year-old Spaniard is only 5-7 on hard courts this year.

"I think the courts are completely fair. Sometimes when you came here ... they were unbelievably fast," Costa said. "Now I think it's fair for everybody."

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