Seles Wins in First Round, Graf and Sampras Pull Out

Defending champion Monica Seles, making her first tournament appearance since November, shrugged off a sore neck and defeated Japan’s Akiko Kijimuta in the first round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.

Seles rebounded from a first-game service break and needed only 48 minutes to win, 6-2, 6-0. Kijimuta failed to hold any of her seven service games.

Three-time champion Steffi Graf, seeded second and expected to be Seles’ top challenger, withdrew because she has a viral infection. An ear infection severly hampered Graf at the Hopman Cup in Perth two weeks ago.

Pete Sampras, sixth-seeded among the men, was forced to withdraw for the second consecutive year because of a sore shoulder that was aggravated last week during a tuneup tournament at Adelaide.

Second-seeded Boris Becker of Germany defeated Jan Gunnarsson of Sweden, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, and seemed surprised when told he had 25 aces.

“That’s good news,” Becker said with a smile. “That’s quite a lot, even for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better match.”

Top-seeded Stefan Edberg, also appearing in a major tournament for the first time after a two-month layoff caused by injuries, was nervous before his match. But he beat doubles partner Jeremy Bates of Britain, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

John McEnroe, other than one scary moment when he turned an ankle and fell early in the third set, coasted through the first round with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Broderick Dyke.