Hewitt and Clijsters advance
Belgian second seed Clijsters raced through a 6-2, 6-0 win over Amy Frazier of the United States while her boyfriend Hewitt overcame early jitters to send American Brian Vahaly packing 6-4, 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3.
Hewitt will now play Russian Nikolay Davydenko, who put out Britain's Greg Rusedski.
Clijsters then saw US seventh seed Jennifer Capriati, who beat her 12-10 in the third set of an epic 2001 final, swamp South Africa's Joannette Kruger 6-2, 6-1 to set up an encounter with Marion Bartoli of France.
US sixth seed Lindsay Davenport was equally impressive as she handed out a claycourt lesson to Indonesia's Wynne Prasuka, romping through 6-2, 6-0 to book a meeting with Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova.
But men's defending champion Albert Costa, who last week claimed Hewitt did not have the game to win on clay, didn't have it so easy.
The ninth-seeded Spaniard, without a tournament win since last year's final triumph over Juan Carlos Ferrero, had to come from two sets down to edge out Argentine Sergio Roitman.
Grand Slam debutant Roitman, a 24-year-old lucky loser from the qualifiers and playing only the fourth Tour match of his career, finally ran out of steam as Costa won 6-7 (3/7), 2-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in 3hr 38min to avoid becoming the first defending men's champion ever to crash in the opening round here. Costa now meets Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.
Triple champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, seeded 15 and struggling to recapture his form, was too wily for Swiss veteran Marc Rosset, winning 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
Kuerten, titleholder in 1997, 2000 and 2001, meets Morocco's Hicham Arazi, who earlier beat Dutchman Raemon Sluiter 6-2, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-0.
Ferrero swept past Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland 7-5, 7-5, 6-4 and meets Chile's Nicolas Massu, who beat Swedish former finalist Magnus Norman 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
US sixth seed Andy Roddick wasn't so lucky, going down to Armenia's Sargis Sargsian 6-7 (3/7), 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
Third seed Venus Williams brushed aside recent injury to advance to the second round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over fellow American Samantha Reeves.
The holder of 29 WTA titles, Venus has seen a drop in form of late culminating in a pulled a stomach muscle before the German Open earlier this month, but said she was feeling fit and ready to challenge her younger sister's run of Grand Slam victories.
"Obviously she's working really hard to be in the position she's in. She also has it in her and it's great when you can have it in you and succeed the way she can," said Williams.
"I think a lot of things will be happening in my court. It's the second round now and I'm ready," said the former world number one, winner of four Grand Slam titles, but who has been runner-up to Serena in the last four. Clijsters explained she and Hewitt were in a hurry to get the job done so they can have time together in the world's "most romantic city", having been fortunate to see their matches scheduled closely together.
"We both like to play on the same day so you don't have to hang out on the courts too much but I get nervous watching him anyway," Clijsters admitted.
She next faces Germany's Marlene Weingartner.
Hewitt, who has yet to make the last four at Roland Garros, saw Vahaly, a 23-year-old from New Jersey, recover from 1-3 in the third set to force and win a tiebreak, saving three match points along the way.
But Hewitt could afford a break against him in the eighth game of the fourth set to advance after 3hr 15min.
"I felt a little bit tired I guess," said Hewitt. "The conditions were very heavy the balls were probably heavier than ever before.
"The court is slow so it wasn't a great mixture."
Also advancing among the men was British 25th seed Tim Henman, who thrashed former Wimbledon semi-
finalist Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 to set up a meeting with US veteran Todd Martin, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 conqueror of Argentina's Jose Acasuso.
Wimbledon finalist and Argentine eighth seed David Nalbandian moved on with a 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win over Spain's Albert Montanes.
Jelena Dokic, seeded 10, won through in the women's event as she cruised past Angelika Roesch of Germany 6-4, 6-4.
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