FLUSHING, New York (Ticker) -- One day after the men's side of the U.S. Open was rocked by the exit of Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter, top seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland left little room for drama on the women's end.

Hingis breezed into the third round with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Sarah Pitkowski of France today at the $14.5 million grand slam event.

Sampras of the United States, the world's No. 1 player, and two-time defending champion Rafter of Australia were forced to withdraw from the tournament Tuesday with injuries, leaving the top half of the men's draw wide open. Meanwhile, the women's draw has been more true to form with 15 of the 16 seeded players still alive.

The 19-year-old Hingis needed just 46 minutes to dismiss Pitkowski, and was grateful to have such an easy second-round match.

"I prefer it once in a while. It's nice," Hingis said. "Because the other tournaments are tough. All the best players are there, you have to take every single round serious. But here at a Grand Slam till you get in the better rounds it's nice to have a match like that."

She had 19 winners to just seven for Pitkowski. Hingis converted five of seven break point chances and never faced a break point as she was never threatened by her outclassed opponent.

Hingis, who won nine out of her 14 approaches to the net, admitted she was experimenting with different facets of her game today.

"I was trying to do a few things. coming in, doing shots I wouldn't do if I would have to play a great player," Hingis said. "If this was an important point, I wouldn't try out things I did today."

Third-seed Venus Williams of the United States attempts to keep on course for a possible semifinal meeting with Hingis when she faces Anne-Galle Sidot of France tonight.

Hingis defeated Williams in the final of this tournament in 1997.

"I just try to get as far as I can," Hingis said. "This is a great chance for me to play well and try to beat everybody. If I don't do it, it's not a big deal."

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 reclaimed 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 Jelena Dokic. She got off to a good start here on Monday with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic.

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, on Monday.

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.

Also advancing today was 10th seed and 1994 champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, who easily defeated Nicole Pratt of Australia, 6-2, 6-2; 12th seed Barbara Schett of Austria, who downed Sweden's Asa Carlsson, 6-4, 6-2; No. 13 Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, a 6-3, 6-3 winner over Italy's Rita Grande and 15th seed Amelie Mauresmo of France, who beat South African Mariaan De Swardt, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

In the other second-round match involving a seeded women, No. 8 Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic meets Slovenia's Tina Krizian.

Only two men's second-round matches are on the schedule. No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia takes on his occasional doubles partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus. The winner will face former semifinalist Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden or Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen in the third round. Bjorkman and Carlsen square off today.

Kafelnikov, who battled with the wind but got past Alberto Martin of Spain, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Monday, 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.

However, 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.

A lucky loser who took the spot vacated by Sweden's Thomas Johansson, Mirnyi beat Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic on Monday in five sets. Although born in Minsk, Mirnyi trained at the Brooklyn Racquet Club as a teenager while briefly living in the predominantly Russian Brighton Beach section.

In first-round action, ninth seed Greg Rusedski of Britain beat Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and No. 14 Tommy Haas of Germany defeated Sweden's Tomas Enqvist, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6);

No. 17 Felix Mantilla of Spain was not as fortunate as he fell to Sweden's Magnus Norman, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. Mantilla, a clay court specialist, took the place in the draw of Mark Philippoussis, the 16th seed who is still recovering from knee surgery.

Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden took Sampras' place and will square off against Russian teenager Marat Safin, who is fresh off claiming his first career ATP tournament in Boston.