Showing the first real signs of fatigue, Australian Lleyton Hewitt stretched his unbeaten winning streak this year to 11 matches with a marathon four set win over American Paul Golstein at the Australian Open yesterday. The Adelaide teenager pumped his fists, beat his chest and ran himself to a standstill until finally emerging with a 6-2 6-7 7-6 6-4 victory in a first-round match that was three and a quarter hours in the making and didn't finish until 1.50 a.m. "There were no easy points. It was tough tennis out there tonight and it really has taken a lot out of me," an exhausted Hewitt said.

"I'm match hardened at the moment, I just hope I have the stamina to go the two weeks." After the opening-day defeats of Thomas Enqvist (six) and Karol Kucera (14) to Australian Richard Fromberg and Thai Paradorn Srichaphan respectively, out went number five seed Gustavo Kuerten, number 13 Cedric Pioline and number 15 Albert Costa.

Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus was Costa's conqueror in four sets; Spaniard Albert Portas came from two sets down to knock out Kuerten, and 1997 Wimbledon runner-up Pioline lost to a man who has known that disappointment three times - Goran Ivanisevic.

Fallen idol Ivanisevic, who toppled from 12th to 62nd in the world last season, served 32 aces to Pioline's 26 in winning 9-7 in the fifth.

Martina Hingis and Yevgeny Kafelnikov both began their title defences with wins. But they were contrasting affairs.

Hingis, chasing a fourth successive crown in an event where she has never lost in singles or doubles, crushed Croatian teenager Mirjana Lucic, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, 6-1 6-2 in just 43 minutes.

Lucic was Hingis's victorious doubles partner in Melbourne two years ago but she was shown no mercy. She felt the surface suited a thinking player rather than a hard-hitting, aggressive player.

"I tried to make her play and just get as many balls back as I could," said the 19-year-old. Kafelnikov, on the other hand, was a set down to German Jens Knippschild and needed treatment for a groin injury before coming through 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-1 6-2.

"It's not too serious," said the Russian.

"It's just a small injury I got last Wednesday. I never thought I was going to quit - but there was a chance I might lose the match. I had to tough it out and I'm very proud of myself.

"I'm not expecting it to get worse. Hopefully, I can move on slowly and we will see what happens later."

Kafelnikov believes his chances of a successful defence could be damaged more by the faster surface and balls this year.

"It's ridiculously fast compared to last year," he said.

"The ball is travelling through the air a lot quicker, so it definitely favours big-serve players like Sampras, Philippoussis and Krajicek." And, of course, Ivanisevic.

Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti was almost another star casualty, but the seventh seed survived 8-6 in the fifth against Andrei Medvedev.

The women's seeds survived the day intact, although US Open champion Serena Williams made hard work of overcoming Australian wild card Amanda Grahame, only 261st in the world, 6-4 4-6 6-4.

Eighteen-year-old Williams is seeded third in the injury absence of her sister Venus.

All Australian eyes were on Hewitt, however, who finished 1999 ranked 22 in the world but under the ATP's new ranking system proudly sits perched at number one after winning the Australian men's hardcourt and Sydney international titles.

At the age of 18, Hewitt has won four tournaments, including the back-to-back titles this month. He helped Australia win last year's Davis Cup and has already beaten players such as Andre Agassi, Thomas Enqvist and Yevgeny Kafelnikov but his career is still in its infancy.

He looked set for an easy win against Goldstein after steamrolling his opponent to take the first set in 25 minutes.

But the second set, which lasted an hour, went to Goldstein in a tie-break before Hewitt won the third after another hour on court.

The pony-tailed Hewitt broke Goldstein at the start of the fourth set but gave his advantage straight back before getting another break which ultimately proved decisive.

"It was a very hard game for both of us because we're both baseliners so we had to do a lot of running," said Hewitt, who faces Spain's Alex Corretja in the second round.

"I'm happy to have had a tough match under my belt. It could have gone longer but I think everyone was glad it didn't go into a fifth set."

The manner of Hewitt's victory may also have helped repair his rapport with an Australian public still sulking at being called "stupid" by the brash teenager.

Hewitt was starting to challenge Pat Rafter as the new pinup boy of Aussie tennis until he slammed Australians for cheering opponents. He retracted his statement quicker than an overhead smash and amazingly got away with it, when other Australian tennis players have been less fortunate.

Mark Philippoussis is still battling to win back support after refusing to play for Australia in a Davis Cup match in 1998 while Jelena Dokic has done little to endear herself to the public after a gratuitous insult to the opponent who put her out of the first round of the Australian Open.

Whatever the public's reaction may be, Hewitt did at least win a fan in Goldstein.

"It's not hard to see why he's on top of the points list at the moment. He just doesn't give up," Goldstein said.