With the fans surprisingly on her side after her outburst in last year's final, the top-seeded Hingis began her quest for the only Grand Slam title that has eluded her with a convincing 6-0, 6-4 victory over Sabine Appelmans of Belgium.

American Pete Sampras also starts his bid for his first title at Roland Garros later today. Seeded second, Sampras has a tough assignment in Mark Philippoussis, but is 7-2 all-time against the hard-serving Australian.

Third seed Monica Seles of the United States showed that she is a strong contender to take her fourth French Open title by crushing Silvija Talaja of Croatia, 6-2, 6-2, in 63 minutes.

However, No. 15 Jennifer Capriati, who advanced to the semifinals at the Australian Open, made a quick exit in Paris as Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia posted a 6-3, 7-5 win over the American, who was seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time since 1993.

Hingis made quick work of Appelmans as she broke her six times and took advantage of 30 unforced errors by her Belgian opponent to prevail in 52 minutes. The Swiss teenager remained unbeaten in six career meetings with Appelmans and improved to 22-5 lifetime at Roland Garros.

Last year's emotionally charged final against Steffi Graf saw Hingis frustrated by close calls and a crowd that showed strong support for Graf, who won in three sets. Hingis was so distraught after the match, she needed her mother and coach, Melanie Molitor, to console her.

"When I look in the paper, or see magazine articles, I laugh at the pictures because it was an unbelievable emotional thing," Hingis said. "But I think since then many things have changed. I'm playing well and that's the most important thing to me right now."

Hingis has won five Grand Slam titles, but has fell short in the French Open final two of the last three years. She was denied a sixth by rival Lindsay Davenport in this year's Australian Open final.

Seles battled the swirling winds to improve to a remarkable 47-5 lifetime at Roland Garros.

"Since I've been playing the French Open, I've never seen wind like this," Seles said. "Especially on center court, the wind was just swirling. I think it's very difficult. None of the players like to play in the wind."

Seles won consecutive French Open titles from 1990-92, finished runner-up in 1998 and was a semifinalist last year. She arrived in Paris in the midst of an impressive claycourt season, going 13-1 on the dirt with two titles.

"I think I've been working really hard," said Seles, who missed the early part of the season recovering from a broken foot. "I want to spend more time on my tennis. I want to keep working hard the way I did before."

Appearing out of sync and out of shape, Capriati was hampered by 52 unforced errors and 10 double faults as her struggles continued after her recent split with renowned coach Harold Solomon. She had been not won a match on clay heading into Paris after a recent Achilles tendon injury.

"I lost a lot of my fitness and hadn't touched a ball in two months," said Capriati, who reached the fourth round last year. "It's always tough when you go out in the first round no matter when it happens. I've bounced back from it before and I'll do it again."

Two Americans recorded upsets on the first day of tennis' second Grand Slam of the season.

Jan-Michael Gambill dismissed eighth seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, 6-3, 7-5, 6-1, while Meghann Shaughnessy ousted women's 12th seed Julie Halard-Decugis of France, 7-5, 6-4.

Five seeded men had no trouble advancing to the second round. Fifth seed and 1997 champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil dismissed Andreas Vinciguerra of Sweden, 6-0, 6-0, 6-3; 1998 runner-up and 10th seed Alex Corretja downed fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4; and No. 11 Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador dumped Julien Boutter of France, 6-4, 6-2, 6-0.

Also, No. 13 Tim Henman of Britain defeated Vincent Spadea of the United States, 7-5, 7-5, 6-4, and No. 16 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain dispatched Jerome Golmard of France, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Later, fourth seed and 1996 winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov goes against Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, who has never lost to the Russian in three meetings. Kafelnikov is just 5-10 on clay this season and has not won on the surface since his triumph here.

Four French seeds advanced on the women's side. Sixth seed Mary Pierce, a finalist in 1994, disposed of American Tara Snyder, 6-3, 6-1; seventh seed Nathalie Tauziat began her 17th French Open appearance with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Kristie Boogert of the Netherlands; No. 10 Sandrine Testud beat Seda Noorlander of the Netherlands, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1; and No. 13 Amelie Mauresmo beat Lilia Osterloh of the United States, 6-2, 6-3.