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Champ chased out in U.S. Open opener

Svetlana Kuznetsova turned in another surprise in the U.S. Open. But this was the wrong kind. Kuznetsova became the first defending women`s champion to lose in the first round, falling 6-3, 6-2 to fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova on Monday. After shaking hands with Bychkova, Kuznetsova quickly picked up her racket bag and hustled off the court.

Monday night, Andre Agassi didn`t have a tough time at all giving his adoring fans one more memory in a match that was little more than a practice session. No one, not even Agassi, knows if this will be his last U.S. Open. But if it is, he started it out in fine fashion with a tidy 69-minute, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 romp against an overwhelmed and thoroughly outclassed Romanian, Razvan Sabau.

Kuznetsova became the fourth defending women`s champ to lose in the first round of a major tournament since the Open era began in 1968. It also happened to Steffi Graf at Wimbledon in 1994, to Jennifer Capriati in the 2003 Australian Open, and to Anastasia Myskina at this year`s French Open. It has happened four times on the men`s side. Patrick Rafter is the only other defending U.S. Open champion to lose in the first round, withdrawing with a shoulder injury in the fifth set in 1999.