PARIS (Reuters) - World No. 1 Martina Hingis brushed off a hostile crowd and sizzling controversy to beat Amelie Mauresmo and avoid following men's No. 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov out of the French Open Wednesday.

Hingis's 6-3, 6-3 second round victory was greeted with a chorus of whistles and boos by a packed center court.

They had turned out on a brilliant Parisian afternoon hoping to see the Frenchwoman avenge her loss to Hingis in the final of the Australian Open, a match made more poignant by controversial comments reportedly made by the Swiss teenager.

Since the Melbourne Grand Slam final, Hingis has been public enemy No. 1 among French tennis fans after being quoted as saying the powerfully built Mauresmo, who has openly professed her homosexuality, played like a man.

But a focused and motivated Hingis, 18, was neither affected by the controversy, the crowd or Mauresmo's power game, as she continued her quest to claim the only Grand Slam title to elude her in her young career.

``I was prepared for the crowd, I knew what to expect,'' said Hingis, a finalist in Paris in 1997. ``Today it depended on mental things, how you dealt with the crowd, the pressure. I had more experience and was able to pick up my game.

``We were nervous and the crowd and pressure wasn't helping her either. Everyone was putting pressure on her, they had big hopes here that she would win the tournament.''

Hingis and the other top women's seeds seeing action on Children's Day at Roland Garros managed to avoid the carnage that befell the men's draw where Kafelnikov and fifth seed Richard Krajicek made early exits.

The day began with Kafelnikov being swept out of the Paris tournament, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4, by Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty.

Shortly afterwards on nearby court one, Krajicek was being humbled by young American Vince Spadea 6-1 6-2 6-4.

Andre Agassi, the 13th seed, narrowly missed having his named added to the list of casualties, surviving a tense five-set battle with Frenchman Arnaud Clement, keeping alive his hopes of claiming the one Grand Slam title to escape him with a 6-2, 4-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0 win.

Defending champion and fourth seed Carlos Moya also received an early scare, dropping the opening set to Australian Open champion Petr Korda before recovering to record a comfortable 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Despite Kafelnikov's No. 1 ranking, the Russian's early departure from Paris was hardly a shock in light of his recent poor form and record against Hrbaty, who had beaten him in their two previous meetings.

Unlike Kafelnikov, Krajicek arrived in Paris in superb form, having claimed two titles but Spadea, ranked 35th, continued a surprising run by winning his fifth match out of five this year against opponents ranked in the top 10.

Ninth seeded Chilean Marcelo Rios did as expected and breezed into the third round with a straight-sets win over Frenchman Arnaud Boetsch, while seventh seed Tim Henman of Britain continued to produce the unexpected, beating the Czech Republic's Jiri Novak.

The women's side of the draw saw the Williams sisters, fifth seed Venus and 10th seed Serena, muscle their way into the third round.

Coming off back-to-back tournament wins in Hamburg and Rome, Venus stretched her winning streak to 11 matches with 7-6, 6-0 victory over Natasha Zvereva.

Serena, 17, the younger of the powerhouse Americans, barely worked up a sweat in the morning sun as she disposed of Argentina's Mariana Diaz Oliva, 6-3, 6-4.

Seventh seeded Spaniard Aranxta Sanchez Vicario sent another warning that she is well prepared to defend her French Open crown, demolishing Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, 6-1, 6-2.