FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- On a cold night in the usually hot month of August, top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland was both of those extremes tonight in her first-round 6-1, 7-5 win over Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic at the $14.5 million U.S. Open tennis championships.

The 19-year old Hingis was as hot as a typical August day in New York as she raced through the first set in 18 minutes. The second set, however, was a different story.

The "Swiss Miss" went as cold as the night air in Queens, dropping her serve three times as she struggled to close out Hrdlickova in 71 minutes.

Hingis, who dropped her first-round match at Wimbledon in June to Jelena Dokic of Australia, was spared a similiar fate tonight as much by Hrdlickova's sloppiness as with her own ability.

The Czech had 50 unforced errors, including a long backhand on match point. Hrdlickova was broken four times in the second set and squandered any chance of an upset with her own errant play.

Normally one of the steadiest players from the baseline, Hingis struck an unusually high 21 unforced errors and had just 10 winners.

After back-to-back losses at the French Open and Wimbledon, Hingis has bounced back to win two tournaments during the summer hardcourt season and reclaim the No. 1 ranking. The teenager has won a WTA Tour-leading six events this season, including her third straight Australian Open title in January.

Hingis lost to the now-retired Steffi Graf in the French Open final and followed that defeat with a humiliating 6-2, 6-0 first-round loss to Dokic.

Earlier today, Irina Spirlea of Romania pulled off the first major upset as she knocked off sixth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-1, 7-5.

Spirlea, a semifinalist at the Open in 1997, wasted three match points at 5-3 and Coetzer rallied to even the second set at 5-5. But Spirlea broke again to go up, 6-5, and served out the match.

Playing in winds gusting up to 30 miles per hour, Spirlea used her stronger ground strokes to keep Coetzer on the defensive throughout the match.

Third seeds Venus Williams of the United States and Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia headlined the opening day action and cruised into the second round. Andre Agassi, the second seed and 1994 winner, is in action tonight against Nicolas Kulti of Sweden.

Williams, regarded as one of the favorites to win her first Grand Slam singles title at the Open, crushed Tatiana Poutchek, a 20-year-old qualifier from Belarus, 6-1, 6-2. Kafelnikov overcame a loss of concentration in the second set and ousted Alberto Martin of Spain, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Poutchek, who played some of her junior tennis in nearby Brooklyn, was backed by a cheering contingent from the predominantly Russian Brighton Beach section. But it did not help a bit as Williams toyed with her, winning in just 54 minutes.

Williams had 26 winners and Poutchek could not manage even one while committing 15 unforced errors. Williams broke on four of her six opportunities.

"It was very windy and I had to improvise some, change some things up," said Williams. "I'd have liked to have played better. I'd like to have a tougher first-round match but under the conditions, I guess it was OK. It wasn't a very difficult match, especially since I knew that I was much more experienced than her. Whenever I faced a break point or she had a game point, I knew exactly what to do with the ball."

Williams says she is confident that she will do well at this year's Open.

"I think I have a great draw," she explained. "I still have to play well because at any given time, any player can come out and play great matches. I have to be prepared. I learned my lesson at the French Open. Each player like today -- I'd never seen her before, so I was just really going out to be serious about it. I'm not sure who I play next or who I have the possibility of playing. I'm definitely going to go into the match as serious as possible."

Williams is one of three Americans among the top four seeds, joining second seed and defending champion Lindsay Davenport and fourth seed Monica Seles.

A finalist in 1997 in her U.S. Open debut and a semifinalist last year, the 19-year-old Williams has looked impressive over the past month. She reached consecutive finals at California events in Stanford and San Diego and defeated Davenport to win last week's Pilot Pen in New Haven, Connecticut, her fifth title of 1999.

Kafelnikov won his second career Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open. He became the first Russian to be ranked No. 1 despite a seven-match losing streak in May.

But the Russian has regained his form this summer by reaching the quarterfinals or better at five straight events, including runner-up finishes at the Super 9 du Maurier Open and the Legg Mason Classic.

Agassi has won three titles this season and is ranked No. 2 in the world behind fellow American Pete Sampras after being ranked as low as No. 141 two years ago. Agassi captured the French Open in June to become only the fifth male to win all four Grand Slams.

Since his French Open run, Agassi has gone 27-4, falling to Sampras in the Wimbledon and Los Angeles finals and the semifinals at Cincinnati, and Kafelnikov in the semifinals at Montreal.

Five other seeds played their opening-round matches on the women's side. Eighth seed and 1998 semifinalist Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic downed Shi-Ting Wang of Taipei, 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, and 10th seed and 1994 champion Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain defeated Dokic, 7-5, 6-1. Dokic, the 16-year-old Wimbledon quarterfinalist from Australia, committed 45 unforced errors and was broken six times in the swirling wind.

Also, No. 12 Barbara Schett of Austria crushed American qualifier Tracy Singian, 6-0, 6-1; No. 13 Dominique Van Roost of Belgium routed Canada's Maureen Drake, 6-1, 6-0; and 15th seed and Australian Open finalist Amelie Mauresmo of France eliminated Justine Henin of Belgium, 6-1, 6-4.

Among the men, eighth seed and 1998 semifinalist Carlos Moya of Spain took out French Open semifinalist Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-4; 10th seed Marcelo Rios of Chile goes against Martin Damm of the Czech Republic; and No. 12 Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands routed national junior champion Philip King of the United States, 6-1, 6-4, 6-0.

Davenport, Sampras and two-time defending men's champion Patrick Rafter of Australia will play their opening-round matches over the next two days.

First prize for both the men's and women's singles champions is $750,000.