Happy birthday gift for 'Guga'

Agencies, Rio de Janeiro

Triple French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten ensured himself a happy 26th birthday with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Austrian Julien Knowle in the first round of the Brazil Open Tuesday.

The home favorite, who is on the comeback trail after recovering from a hip injury that kept him out of the game for several months, is desperate to do well on his own turf having crashed out in the first round last year.

And his fans were out in force to cheer him on as he blasted his way past the modest Austrian player in straight sets.

Kuerten's mother was then produced to present him on court with a birthday cake.

"I'm very happy to have received the cake, and it was a very emotional moment for me to have my mom bring it to me on court," he said.

"I played a very good match today although I was very nervous at the beginning.

"To play in my first final of the year here at home would be great, but obviously I have to take one match at a time.

Kuerten next goes up against Mashiska Washington of the United States.

There was a straight sets win also for top seed big Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, coming off his best career performance at the US Open where he reached the semi-finals losing to eventual winner Pete Sampras. Schalken defeated Michael Kohlmann of Germany 6-2, 7-6 (7/0).

On the women's side, Slovenia's Tina Pisnik beat Paola Suarez, 6-2, 6-2 while South Africa's Amanda Coetzer beat Slovakia's Janette Husarova 6-1, 6-1.

In Tashkent, Uzbekistan, top seed and defending champion of the US$550,000 President's Cup ATP event Marat Safin of Russia cruised comfortably into the second round here Tuesday, but compatriot Yevgeny Kafelnikov only just made it.

Safin, who is seeking his third consecutive title here and the 11th of his career, saw off French qualifier Gregory Carraz 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and now faces Karol Beck of Slovakia for a quarter-final berth.

Germany's Tommy Haas, second seed here, rallied from a set down to oust Swiss wild card Marc Rosset in two hours 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

He will meet Armenia's Sargis Sargsian in the second round.

Third-seeded Kafelnikov narrowly avoided an undignified loss, edging past Alexander Waske of Germany in three tiebreaks 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6) in 2 hours 21 minutes.

Mikhail Youzhny, Russia's seventh seed, was more expeditious as he sent Spaniard Feliciano Lopez packing 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 while Thai hope Paradorn Srichaphan, seeded five, knocked out Anthony Dupuis of France 6-1, 6-2.

In Shanghai, China, second seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan squeezed through to the quarter-finals of the WTA Shanghai Open on Wednesday, surviving an early scare to triumph over Canada's Vanessa Webb 2-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Sugiyama, ranked 20th in the world, faced defeat after going down 5-2 in the deciding set, but she managed to recover and reel off the last five games to win.

The Japanese player struggled on her returns in the first two sets and could find no answer to the booming serves of her much taller opponent.

But Sugiyama hung in there and her doggedness -- as well as her more consistent groundstrokes -- finally proved the deciding factor.

Sugiyama said she looked forward to meeting fourth seed Anna Kournikova if both made it to the semi-finals of the $140,000 event.

The Russian plays unfancied Zheng Jie of China on Thursday, while Sugiyama will face the winner of Wednesday's clash between Italian sisters Antonella and Adriana Serra-Zanetti.