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By Associated PressSvetlana Kuznetsova becomes the only women's defending champion to lose in the first round of the Open.
NEW YORK - Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova made the kind of history that no one wants to make on the opening day of the U.S. Open.
On Monday, Kuznetsova became the first women's defending champion to fall in the first round of the tournament, losing to fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-3, 6-2.
In contrast, Rafael Nadal showed in Round 1 of the year's final Grand Slam event he can be just as dominating on hardcourts as clay in a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 rout of hard-serving American wild-card Bobby Reynolds.
"It's better to (try) to defend than never to have won it," said Kuznetsova, who made 45 unforced errors in the match, to just eight for Bychkova. "I already won it, so I'm happy with that. I will have many chances just to play this game, and hope to play many more U.S. Opens and have chances to win it again."
The fifth-seeded Kuznetsova has won only one event since her Open triumph - a small tournament in Bali the week after her big win in New York.
The 20-year-old Kuznetsova became the fourth defending women's champ to lose in the first round of a Grand Slam since the Open era began in 1968. The others were Steffi Graf at Wimbledon in 1994, Jennifer Capriati at the 2003 Australian Open and Anastasia Myskina at this year's French Open.
The earliest exit for U.S. Open women's champion was the third round by Billie Jean King in 1973.
The other top seeds had an easier time. After falling behind 3-1 in the second set, Serena Williams rallied to win the last five and beat Yung-Jan Chan of Taiwan 6-1, 6-3. Her sister, Venus, beat Rika Fujiwara of Japan 6-3, 6-1 and Kim Clijsters continued her sizzling summer, needing 53 minutes to beat Germany's Martina Muller 6-1, 6-2 win.
Nadal, the French Open champ, won easily. One point demonstrated his talents and tenacity. He lunged to return a 123 mph serve by Reynolds, a former Vanderbilt All-American, leapt to catch up to two overheads and keep them in play, then sprinted from beyond the baseline to pounce on Reynolds' drop shot and pass him with a winner.
The 2004 French winner wasn't so lucky. Ninth-seeded Gaston Gaudio was upset by Brian Baker 7-6 (9-7), 6-2, 6-4.
Maria Sharapova and Andre Agassi were the attractions at night, with top-seeded Sharapova beating Eleni Dandiilidou 6-1, 6-1. Agassi started out in fine fashion with a tidy 69-minute, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 romp over an overwhelmed and thoroughly outclassed Romanian, Razvan Sabau.
Cranking out 11 aces at up to 127 mph, drilling baseline winners at will, toying with drop shots and lobs, the 35-year-old Agassi couldn't have asked for an easier start.
"You can't always hope for matches to go that uneventfully," said Agassi, who won the Open in 1994 and '99, was runnerup three times and has not missed the tournament since his first one in 1986.
INJURY: Crying and hyperventilating, Akiko Morigami left the U.S. Open in a wheelchair after being overcome by cramps in the hot and humid weather.
Morigami won all seven points in the first-set tiebreak against Australian Nicole Pratt before the 25-year-old right-hander from Japan started feeling cramps throughout her body. The temperature in New York City reached 86 degrees with 60 percent humidity, although it is much hotter on the courts.
A finalist at Cincinnati last month, Morigami at first refused to retire from the match, but was unable to continue. She sat in her courtside chair sobbing while a trainer tried to console her, then began hyperventilating as a wheelchair was brought onto the court. Pratt won 6-7 (0-7), 6-0.
Morigami had similar troubles last week when she was playing in Forest Hills. She finished the match, but lost to 15-year-old Alexa Glatch in three sets.