NEW YORK -- Sweden's Magnus Larsson could be making his last go-round at the U.S. Open.

"I've been on the tour since 1988-89. This might be my last year,'' Larsson said Wednesday after defeating Peter Wessels of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-4 in the first round of U.S. Open qualifying. "But I still enjoy still enjoy playing and enjoy traveling.''

Of course, he wishes he were playing more matches. But that comes only with winning, which he hasn't been doing much of lately. No longer is he around in the latter stages of the tournament. And no longer is his ranking high enough to give him direct entry into events.

"I'm slipping a little bit every year,'' said the 32-year-old right-hander. "It bothers me now, playing in the qualifying, but I'm not better than my ranking.''

Once ranked as high as 10th in the world, Larsson has qualified for only six tournaments this year. His 2002 match record of 5-6 includes first-round losses in his last three tournaments, including Wimbledon.

"I used to play on weekends in the semifinals and finals,'' he said. "Now I'm playing the weekend before the finals in qualifying. I'm a week ahead of schedule.''

Among other first-round qualifying winners Wednesday in the men's singles were Americans Robert Kendrick and Michael Russell, Martin Verkerk of the Netherlands, Franco Suillari of Argentina, Stefano Galvani of Italy, Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus and Arvind Parmar of Britain.