Sampras, a six-time Wimbledon champion, and Hingis, the 1997 winner, cruised through their first-round matches on Monday. While Hingis should have little trouble dispatching Jing-Qian Yi of China, Sampras could have a battle on his hands when he encounters Karol Kucera of Slovakia, who upset Andre Agassi in the second round at the French Open.

Sampras has lost just one match at the All-England Club over the last seven years, a quarterfinal setback in 1996 to eventual winner Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands.

Last year, the 28-year-old American dropped only two sets, was broken just five times and fired 108 aces en route to the title. He beat countryman Andre Agassi in the final.

Sampras is tied with Roy Emerson for the all-time lead in grand slam singles titles with 12. He owns nine grasscourt tournament wins and is 86-15 lifetime on the surface.

By winning this event, Sampras would tie William Renshaw on the all-time list for most Wimbledon men's singles titles.

Hingis is fresh off winning her fourth title of the year at the Heineken Trophy event in the Netherlands. In 1997, at just 16 years old, she became the youngest female in the Open Era (since 1968) to win a Wimbledon singles crown. She fell to eventual winner Jana Novotna in the semifinals in 1998, but lost in the first round last year.

Navratilova, who Hingis is named after, has won a women's record nine singles titles here. The 43-year-old American will team up with South African Mariaan de Swardt with the hopes of equalling, or possibly breaking Billie Jean King's record of 20 Wimbledon crowns, as she also will play mixed doubles here.

The pair have played in three tournaments in preparation for this event but won only a handful of matches.

"I really want to experience that feeling I had on Centre Court at Wimbledon again," said Navratilova, who won 167 singles titles, more than any man or woman, in addition to 165 doubles crowns in a career that spanned two decades. "It is so special to me, but I don't want to look like a fool. I want to have some fun, so singles would be tough to do, but I'd like a go at doubles. Remember, I never actually said I'd retired from doubles, it was just singles.

"I haven't made a comeback long-term, I just wanted to play Wimbledon."

Navratilova and de Swardt take on Lubomira Bacheva of Bulgaria and Amanda Hopmans of the Netherlands today.

Eighth seed Serena Williams of the United States made Dutchwoman Yvette Basting's stay at Wimbledon a short on with a 6-1, 6-0 second-round thrashing earlier today.

The reigning U.S. Open champion needed just 33 minutes to dispatch the 186th-ranked Basting, who managed only four points in a second set which lasted only 12 minutes. One of those points was a double fault by Williams.

After missing last year's event with the flu, the 19-year-old Williams repeated her 1998 run as she secured her place in the third round.

Germany's Anke Huber, the 11th seed, needed three sets to get past Britain's Louise Latimer, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Huber, who overcame eight double faults and 33 unforced errors, had 32 winners.

In other matches involving seeded players, French Open finalist Conchita Martinez of Spain, the fourth seed and 1994 winner, plays Sonya Jeyaseelan of Canada and fifth seed Venus Williams of the United States goes against Ai Sugiyama of Japan. Williams has reached consecutive quarterfinals since losing her debut match here in 1997.

Four other men's seeds play second-round matches today as No. 3 Magnus Norman of Sweden, the French Open finalist, meets Olivier Rochus of Belgium; sixth seed and 1997 runner-up Cedric Pioline of France takes on Belarussian qualifier Vladimir Voltchkov, who won the boys' title here three years ago; ninth seed Thomas Enqvist of Sweden faces Francisco Clavet of Spain; and Krajicek, the 11th seed and 1996 winner, squares off against South African Wayne Ferreira.

In a pair of unseeded battles of note, American Vincent Spadea, who snapped his record 21-match losing streak Monday with an upset triumph over No. 14 Greg Rusedski of Britain, plays Albert Portas of Spain while countryman Jan-Michael Gambill encounters tricky Frenchman Fabrice Santoro. Gambill upended seventh seed Lleyton Hewitt of Australia on Tuesday.