PARIS, May 26: So far, so good. Top-seeded Pete Sampras won his first-round match at the French Open today, taking a step toward winning the one Grand Slam title that eludes him. Sampras defeated France's Fabrice Santoro in straight sets 6-3 7-5 6-1. After a hard-fought second set, he dominated the final set, closing it out with a service break. He never lost serve.

In other top matches, Yevgeny Kafelnikov began the defense of his title with a straight-set victory, and 16-year-old American Venus Williams began her Grand Slam career with a tough three-set win.

Indian Davis Cupper and Olympic bronze medallist Leander Paes overcame a second set deficit to crush Grant Stafford of South Africa. Showing immense determination and grit, Paes outclassed Stafford 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-2 to set up a second round meeting with Magnus Norman of Sweden, who defeated Britain's Greg Rusedski 6-3 6-2 3-6 4-6 9-7.

Kafelnikov defeated Martin Damm of the Czech Republic 6-2 6-4 6-4, showing little effect of the broken finger he suffered with a blow to a punching bag in January.

Fifth-seed and 1995 champion Thomas Muster pulled back from the brink to outslog Marc-Kevin Goellner of Germany in a three-hour baseline marathon and reach the second-round.

The 29-year-old Austrian, who is scheduled to play defending champion Kafelnikov in the quarter-finals, trailed 2-4 in the final set before scoring a 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-4.

He now plays either Jeff Tarango of the United States or Marcelo Filippini of Uruguay.

The unseeded Williams, the new great American hope in women's tennis, was playing her first match outside the United States. She defeated Japan's Naoko Sawamatsu 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 in a match lasting 2 hours 37 minutes.

Four other American women scored first-round victories Monday. Fifth-seeded Lindsay Davenport defeated South African Joannette Kruger 6-2 6-3. Unseeded Chanda Rubin beat Argetina's Marinana Diaz-oliva 7-6 (7-5) 7-5. Amy Frazier and Nicole Arendt also won.

Spaniard Alex Corretja beat Morocco's Kalim Alami, 6-3 6-4 6-1.

Third-seeded and three-time champion Monica Seles eliminated Miho Saeki of Japan, 6-0, 6-3. Seles could face Williams in the third round.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.