The world's No. 1 women's player committed a multitude of unforced errors and was ousted by Virginia Ruano-Pascual of Spain, 6-4, 6-2, Monday in a match that lasted only 65 minutes.

Americans Pete Sampras and Jennifer Capriati posted straight-sets wins in their first-round matches Monday at the All-England Club.

Hingis played tentatively throughout her match, rarely forced the action and hit numerous easy returns into the net. Afterwards, she attributed the lackadaisical performance to lower back tendinitis.

"I had a little tendinitis in my lower back," she said. "I was more or less only able to play from standing. In the match, you have to move around and that's a little more difficult.

"It started at the beginning of last week. I had acupuncture in my lower back and it got better, but it was too short of a recovery time to really heal it."

Ranked 83rd in the world, Ruano Pascual earned the biggest win singles win of her career. The 27-year-old advanced to the fourth round at Wimbledon in 1998 after beating Serena Williams and reached the third round of the Australian Open this season.

"It is a dream for me," Ruano Pascual said. "Two weeks ago, I win the grand slam doubles in mixed. Next, I beat the No. 1 player in the world. It's unbelievable. I felt very comfortable today on the court and played my best game."

Pascual won in both the doubles and mixed doubles at the French Open.

In 1999, Hingis was upset here in the first round by Jelena Dokic, 6-2, 6-0. But that match came after she briefly split with her mother and coach, Melanie Molitor.

This time, Hingis was a shell of herself. After losing the first three games of the second set, she was visibly wincing but managed to break Ruano Pascual's serve in the fourth game. However, Ruano Pascual promptly broke back to go up 4-1 and won her last two games on serve to close out the match.

"Two or three days ago, I didn't know if I was going to come here at all," Hingis said. "I tried. I did everything I could and it came out this way."

The 20-year-old from Switzerland has not won a Grand Slam title since the 1999 Australian Open. She lost to Capriati at the last two majors, falling in the final at Melbourne and the semifinals at Roland Garros.

The quest for a fifth consecutive and record eighth Wimbledon title began in predictable fashion for Sampras.

The heavily favored top seed rolled to a 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 first-round victory Monday over Spain's Francisco Clavet under sunny skies in the first centre court match.

"The ovation I got when I walked out was nice and also when I was walking off the court," Sampras said. "It's a pleasure playing out there. When I step out there, I draw a lot of memories from all the tough matches that I've gotten through."

The all-time leader with 13 Grand Slam singles titles, Sampras is tied with William Renshaw -- who played in the 1880s -- for the most Wimbledon crowns. Bjorn Borg was the last to win five straight Wimbledon championships from 1976-80.

Sampras, who had 19 aces, took the first set with a single break of serve, won the second set tiebreak, 7-5, and closed out the third set with a break in a match that lasted two hours, one minute. He improved to an astounding 54-1 at Wimbledon in the last eight years.

Last year, Sampras became the all-time leader in Grand Slam titles when he defeated Patrick Rafter in five sets for the championship. His only loss here in the last eight years came to Richard Krajicek in the 1996 quarterfinals.

Sampras has yet to win a title this year after 10 events and was ousted in the second round of the French Open, but that does not affect his stature as tennis' most gifted grasscourt player.

British wild card Barry Cowan has the dubious distinction of playing Sampras in the second round. Cowan defeated Mark Hilton, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).

Capriati is trying for her own piece of history at Wimbledon. She posted a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Maria Alejandro Vento of Venezuela in a first-round match which lasted 58 minutes.

The fourth-seeded American has won the first two legs of the Grand Slam -- capturing all four majors within a calendar year -- with triumphs at the Australian and French opens.

Capriati dropped three of the first four games but won the next nine to take control of the match.

"I've always felt comfortable on the grass," Capriati said. "I think it's definitely one of the hardest surfaces, that's for sure, because it's just a whole different game. You have to be in shape and there's a certain mindset you have to have to be able to play here."

American Venus Williams is the defending women's champion, but Capriati is the major story since she is trying to become the first woman since Steffi Graf to win three consecutive Grand Slams to start a season. In 1988, Graf won the "Golden Grand Slam" with a sweep of the majors and an Olympic gold medal.

Margaret Court is the only other women's tennis player to win the Grand Slam.

Williams begins defense of her title on Tuesday, but her younger sister, fifth-seeded Serena, quickly dismissed Rita Kuti Kis of Hungary, 6-1, 6-0, in a first-round match.

Serena Williams has been plagued by lingering knee problems and fatigue and has played just five tournaments this year. She lost to Venus in the semifinals here last season.

No. 12 Jan-Michael Gambill was the first seeded men's player to fall, losing to fellow American Chris Woodruff, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2.

Fourth seed Marat Safin of Russia beat Austria's Julian Knowle, 6-2, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, and No. 6 Tim Henman of Britain blitzed Artem Derepasko of Russia, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 and eighth seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain downed Luke Milligan of Britain, 6-0, 6-2, 6-2

No. 11 Thomas Johansson of Sweden, who has won consecutive grasscourt events, needed five sets to beat Andrew Ilie of Australia, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. Chris Woodruff upset fellow American Jan-Michael Gambill, the 12th seed, in another five-set match, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-2 and No. 15 Roger Federer of Switzerland downed Christophe Rochus of Belgium, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

No. 8 Justine Henin of Belgium, fresh off winning her third title of the year at the grasscourt event in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, routed Sarah Pitkowski of France, 6-1, 6-0.

In addition, 10th-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat American Allison Bradshaw, 7-5, 6-7 (10-12), 6-3 and No. 12 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria breezed past against Argentine qualifier Clarisa Fernandez, 6-0, 6-2 and 15th seed Sandrine Testud ousted Rachel McQuillan, 6-2, 6-2.

Former champion Conchita Martinez of Spain defeated rising Czech teenager Daja Bedanova, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Martinez won her lone Grand Slam title here in 1994.