The top-seeded Hingis became the first player to reach the quarterfinals on the women's side today with an easy 6-0, 6-2 victory over the Czech Republic's Jana Nejedly.

The men's top seed, Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, was forced to pull out of the event due to an acute sprain of his left ankle. Hewitt injured himself during the Stella Artois Championships last week.

Hingis was playing her first grasscourt match since falling to Jelena Dokic of Australia in the first round of Wimbledon last year. At the time, Hingis was coming off an emotional French Open final loss to Steffi Graf and was in the midst of a brief seperation from her coach and mother, Melanie Molitor.

Hingis has regrouped since then, but was a semifinal loser to eventual champion Mary Pierce at this year's French Open. She has one grasscourt title, winning Wimbledon in 1997.

Second seed Sandrine Testud is here to make her preparations for Wimbledon, the year's third Grand Slam which begins on June 26. Testud lost three of five matches on grass last season, including her only encounter here.

Hingis and Testud received first-round byes.

There were four seeded women in action today, and two were sent home in the first round.

No. 3 Barbara Schett of Austria was eliminated by Australia's Nicole Pratt, 6-4, 6-2, and fifth-seeded Sabine Appelmans of Belgium was beaten by Zimbabwe's Cara Black, 6-3, 6-4.

Faring better was No. 7 Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who reached the second round with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 triumph over Kristie Boogert of the Netherlands, and ninth-seeded American Kristina Brandi, who moved on with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Austria's Barbara Scwartz.

No. 3 Jennifer Capriati advanced on Monday with a straight sets victory over Magdalena Malevva.

Capriati snapped a four-match losing streak last week at the DFS Classic in Birmingham, England and reached the quarterfinals before falling to eventual winner Lisa Raymond in three sets.

With the help of renowned coach Harold Solomon, Capriati last season rejuvenated a once-promising career that had been sidetracked by off-the-court problems in the mid 1990s. She won two titles in 1999 and started this season by reaching the Australian Open semifinals. However, since recently splitting with Solomon, Capriati has looked out of shape and had not played well until last week.

On the men's side, three seeded players took to the court for first-round action and all three won.

Australia's Patrick Rafter, the No. 3 seed, beat qualifier Denis Van Scheppingen of the Netherlands, 6-3, 6-4; No. 6 Karim Alami of Morocco ousted Russia's Andrei Stoliarov, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5); and seventh-seeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands rallied for a 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-2 win over countryman Raemon Slutier.

Also, fifth-seeded American Michael Chang beat Thailand's Paradon Srichaphan, 6-3, 6-2.

Second seed Patrick Rafter of Australia won one tournament during his injury-plagued 1999 campaign, winning his second straight Heineken Open title here. Rafter is attempting to become the first player ever to win three crowns at this event.

Rafter's win here last year, along with a semifinal run at Wimbledon, helped lift him to the world No. 1 ranking, but two months later he suffered a shoulder injury during the first round of the U.S. Open. He underwent arthroscopic surgery in October to repair a tear in his right shoulder.

The return to form has been slow for the two-time U.S. Open champion. After reaching the quarterfinals in his first event in February in Delray Beach, Rafter has yet to get past the third round in a tournament.

The men's winner takes home $54,000 while the women's victor earns $27,000.