INDIAN WELLS (California), March 12: Pete Sampras proved two things with his 7-6 6-2 opening round win over Mardy Fish on Monday at the Indian Wells Masters.

He can still pull in a crowd and he still owns one of the most punishing serves in the game, blasting 18 aces past the floundering Fish.

But the first round contest also proved one other thing.

There are no more easy matches for the man considered by many to be the greatest to ever swing a racket.

No matter that the 30 year-old Sampras has not won a title in almost two years or that his ranking has slipped to 13 in the world.

It was clear he was the man everyone had come to see, the largest crowd of the tournament almost filling the cavernous 16,000 seat Tennis Garden centre court after it had sat near empty most of the first week of play.

In other first round play world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, second seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov and his Russian compatriot seventh seed Marat Safin all opened their accounts with straightforward victories.

Hewitt had no problems with the desert heat or Spain’s Carlos Moya breezing to a 6-4 6-4 win while Kafelnikov was made to work a little harder for his place in the second round taming Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman 7-5 6-3.

Safin, the losing Australian Open finalist, was also made to sweat battling past Spain’s Alberto Martin 6-3 7-6.

Unbeaten since returning to action following a bout of chicken pox in January, Hewitt began his match on a tentative note as Moya claimed the Australian’s opening serve on way to a 2-0 lead.

But Hewitt, coming off a three set win over Andre Agassi in the final in San Jose, was quickly back at his tenacious best ripping through the next four games to go in front 4-2 to take control.

The U.S. Open champion also found himself down a break 3-1 in the second set but once again immediately answered back with a break of his own and another at 5-4 to lockup the contest.

The United States has been a happy hunting ground for the 21 year-old who is riding a 13 game win streak on American soil stretching back to last season’s U.S. Open.

Britain’s Tim Henman also refused to wilt under the desert sun as the ninth seed opened the day’s play with a scrappy 6-2 6-7 6-4 victory over another Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

With the Palm Desert temperatures soaring toward the mid-30s, Henman could not complain about his early start.

But the ninth seed needed nearly three hours in the scorching sun to grind out a victory from the 34th-ranked Spanish clay-court specialist.

Martina Hingis and Monica Seles romped to fourth round wins at the Indian Wells Masters on Monday, steering well clear of another day of upsets at the $2.1 million tournament.

Hingis, the second seed, overcame a momentary lapse of concentration to book her place in the quarter-finals with a comfortable 6-0 6-3 win over Zimbabwe’s Cara Black while the fourth seeded Seles overwhelmed Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-0 6-1.

But Belgian Justine Henin, American Meghann Shaughnessy and Italian Silvia Farina Elia all absorbed fourth round upsets as the top seeds continued to tumble.

Henin, twice a finalist this season and seeded third, was swept aside 6-3 6-3 by Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova while number six Shaughnessy fell 4-6 6-3 6-1 to Israel’s Anna Smashnova.

Spain’s Arantxa Sanchez Vicario reached the quarter-finals of tournament for the first time this season dispatching the seventh seeded Farina Elia 6-4 7-6.

With the departures only two of the top eight seeds remain in the women’s draw, Hingis and Seles, who are both in the bottom half of the draw and now appeared headed for a semifinal showdown.

Women’s results

4-Monica Seles (U.S.) beat 22-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-0 6-1; 10-Amanda Coetzer (South Africa) beat 25-Alexandra Stevenson (U.S.) 6-1 5-7 7-5; 9-Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (Spain) beat Silvia Farina Elia (Italy) 6-4 7-6 (7-4); 2-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) beat Cara Black (Zimbabwe) 6-0 6-3; 18-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) beat 3-Justine Henin (Belgium) 6-3 6-3; 12-Lisa Raymond (U.S) beat Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) 6-2 6-3; Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) beat 28-Anastasia Myskina (Russia) 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5); Anna Smashnova (Israel) beat 6-Meghann Shaughnessy (U.S.) 4-6 6-3 6-1

Men’s results

Thomas Enqvist (Sweden) beat 8-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 6-4; 10-Pete Sampras (U.S.) beat Mardy Fish (U.S.) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2; 2-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia) beat Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 7-5 6-3; 16-Alex Corretja (Spain) beat Andrea Gaudenzi (Italy) 6-2 6-4; 7-Marat Safin (Russia) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 6-3 7-6 (7-4); Attila Savolt (Hungary) beat Wayne Ferreira (South Africa) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-1); Vicente Fernando (Spain) beat Francisco Clavet (Spain) 7-5 6-3; Franco Squillari (Argentina) beat Albert Portas (Spain) 5-7 6-4 6-4; Andrei Pavel (Romania) beat Galo Blanco (Spain) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4; Nicolas Escude (France) beat Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) 6-3 6-0; Stefan Koubek (Austria) beat Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco) 7-6 (9-7) 6-3; 1-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-4 6-4; Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) beat 15-Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 6-4 6-2; Julien Boutter (France) beat Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-1 6-4; 9-Tim Henman (Britain) beat Tommy Robredo (Spain) 6-2 6-7 (7-9) 6-4; David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat Arnaud Clement (France) 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 —Reuters