NEW YORK -- At first, it seemed that Martina Hingis would cruise through her first comeback match Tuesday at the U.S. Open, a place where she has flourished in the past.

Hingis, granted a wild card after missing most of the summer because of ankle surgery, won the first set against Marissa Irvin and was serving for the match in the second.

	Martina Hingis needed three sets to finish off Marissa Irvin, but said she was glad to finally close it out.

And then suddenly, the tournament's perennial top seed looked like just another player. Irvin climbed back in the match, winning the second set before Hingis recovered to take the third and the match 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

A dangerous moment? Not really, according to Hingis.

"Players like her, at that point, you have nothing to lose anymore,'' she said. "I gave her the confidence to come back in the match.''

In other action, two-time defending champion Venus Williams and third-seeded Jennifer Capriati both opened with perfect victories: 6-0, 6-0. Williams overpowered Mirjana Lucic to win her 14th straight match, and Capriati beat Bethanie Mattek at night. Monica Seles, who won the Open twice in the 1990s, eliminated Zsofia Gubacsi 6-3, 6-3, and 1997 winner Martina Hingis returned to Grand Slam play after ankle surgery and beat Marissa Irvin 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Seeded winners included No. 7 Kim Clijsters, who next faces wild-card entry Mashona Washington, the sister of 1996 Wimbledon finalist MaliVai Washington; No. 10 Amelie Mauresmo, and No. 14 Chanda Rubin.

``The closer it got to 6-0, 6-0, the more I wanted it to be that score,'' said Williams, who never faced a break point once she got on court.

She curled up in a chair in the trainer's room to read a newspaper while waiting around quit a bit her match followed an epic duel between Marat Safin and Nicolas Kiefer.

Two-time defending champion Venus Williams, seeded No. 2, had an easy time eliminating Mirjana Lucic 6-0, 6-0 in her opener, while seventh seed Kim Clijsters beat Spain's Conchita Martinez Granados 6-1, 6-0.

Hingis did not feel threatened. And maybe the extra points, extra games and extra set will be beneficial in the long run.

"I'm happy to be through, that's for sure,'' she said. "I had to win this match twice today. I feel my speed is improving. I need the match practice, that's for sure. I feel I've had a few matches that I've been unable to close out, but I did it today.''

Hingis is on an island here, competing against players who have been on the court all summer while she was recuperating from surgery.

"Everybody's been playing without me the last three or four months,'' she said. "It's not like I feel I'm not there. It's just making the last step. I'm happy I did that today.

"I have to use speed and anticipation. Slowly but surely, hopefully I'll get it back. The most important thing to me is to have the feeling I have the chance to win.''

Hingis is becoming accustomed to moving slowly in her recovery. She reached the quarterfinals at Montreal and the quarters at New Haven before coming to the Open. She knows that was hardly enough preparation for the season's final Grand Slam event.

"Playing just two tournaments, my game for this tournament isn't where it's supposed to be,'' Hingis said. "It's going to help me be where I want to be. I feel like I am improving every day. Two weeks ago, I wasn't as good as I am today.''

And two weeks from now, Hingis anticipates being even better.

These are modest goals for a player who was the top women's seed every year at the Open since 1997, when she won the tournament.

She knows her game needs matches to shed its rust, and she has come to the right place for them.

"It's a matter of playing the matches and really feeling comfortable, and winning them as well,'' she said.

And, at 22, she feels time is on her side.

"Life is ahead of me,'' she said. "When I was 15, 16, I thought, `Everything is going to happen tomorrow, the next day.' Right now, I know nothing's going to run away from me. I still have plenty of time to do a lot of things.

"At this point, all I can say is I'm happy to win the last point.''

And with it, the match.