Capriati, Federer ousted in Australian open tuneup

Tuesday, January 7th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) _ Australian Open champion Jennifer Capriati was ousted from the Sydney International tennis tournament Tuesday in a second-round upset to Russian Tatiana Panova.

The world No. 3 won the first set before Panova rallied to win the next two sets in a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 shocker.

Men's defending champion Roger Federer of Switzerland was upset by Argentina's Franco Squillari 6-2, 6-3, becoming the first man in 20 years to lose the first match of his title defense in Sydney.

Top-seeded Marat Safin coasted to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Belgium's Olivier Rochus in 63 minutes.

For Capriati, it was the fourth consecutive year she'd failed to proceed past the second round at Sydney, her final tuneup for the Jan. 13-26 Australian Open.

Last year, she lost to fellow American Alexandra Stevenson before defending her Australian Open title two weeks later in Melbourne.

Another early loss in Sydney was merely a hiccup in her bid for a third consecutive title in the season-opening Grand Slam.

``Does it set me back? No. I'm confident. Last year I had a loss here also,'' Capriati said. ``It starts, for me, in a Grand Slam. I think I raise my level automatically.''

Capriati, who was seeded No. 1 here, said it was difficult to get a gauge on how her game was progressing after her year-end break because of the spiraling breeze on center court.

``It is the start of the year, my first match back, so it's expected that I'm not gong to play the greatest my first match,'' she said.

Capriati served 14 double faults, dropping her serve eight times and producing 64 unforced errors. She was narrowly missing with her ground strokes while No. 23-ranked Panova was just finding the line.

``Overall I'm hitting the ball well, I've just got to be more consistent and get the rust out a bit,'' Capriati said. ``I've just got to forget about it and think about next week ... I'd rather lose here than there.''

Panova, who twice served for the match before Capriati hit a forehand long on her second match point, said a first-round match rather than a bye might have helped Capriati prepare for the hot and windy conditions.

The wind ``was helping me a lot because she's a hitter, so she can't use it,'' the 26-year-old Russian said. ``The last two matches, I was losing to her easily, she was killing me, but this time she didn't play that well _ many double faults, errors.''

In the other women's second-round match, fourth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia defeated Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 7-6 (2), 6-1.

In women's first-round matches, qualifier Janette Husarova beat Russian Anna Kournikova 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, Alexandra Stevenson defeated Lubomira Kurhajcova of Slovakia 7-6 (5), 6-4 and No. 7-seeded Chanda Rubin defeated Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-3, 7-5.

In the first night match, Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan beat Scott Draper 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to oust the last Australian from the men's draw.

Paradorn, who jumped 110 places to finish last year at No. 14 in the ATP rankings, arrived in Sydney less than 24 hours earlier after defending his Indian Open title in Madras.

At the start of his amazing climb last season, he had a first-round win here over top-seeded Sebastien Grosjean.

American Andy Roddick was next on center court against Spain's Tommy Robredo.

Safin was among the men who said his slow start was due to the grueling schedule on tour.

The Russian was already thinking about reducing his tournament load after straining his back in his opening win over Rochus.

He won the Davis Cup with Russia last month after securing No. 3 ranking at the Tennis Masters series final at Shanghai in November and said he hadn't had enough time to recover.

He happy enough with his start to 2003, however, and was confident the back strain would heal with massage. He next faces Jarkko Nieminen of Finland for a spot in the quarterfinals.

``I try to get some confidence and prepare for the Australia _ I'm OK, I think I'm in the right way.''

Federer, the world No. 4, struggled against Squillari, who'd advanced to the main draw as a lucky loser in qualifying.

He struggled with groin and leg problems, but said he'd play in Melbourne next week regardless of his condition.

``I have to make sure I get treatment on it now and hopefully it won't bother me at the Australian Open (but) like this it's not so fun to play,'' he said.

In earlier men's matches, American qualifier Mardy Fish beat former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek 7-6 (0), 6-4 and South Korean Lee Hyung-taik eased past Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-2, 6-0.

Carlos Moya of Spain wasted three match points in the second set before a 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 6-3 win over James Blake, who partnered Serena Williams last week to win the Hopman Cup for the United States.