Top-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain booked a quarterfinal berth after a 6-4 6-4 win over Italian Guilia Casoni at the Australian women's

Top-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain booked a quarterfinal berth after a 6-4, 6-4 win over Italian Guilia Casoni at the Australian women's hardcourt tournament in Gold Coast, Australia, today. Top-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain booked a quarterfinal berth after a 6-4, 6-4 win over Italian Guilia Casoni at the Australian women's hardcourt tournament in Gold Coast, Australia, today. Martinez said she felt tense throughout the match as the 22-year-old Casoni pushed her repeatedly on her serve."I was trying hard .... my New Year's resolution is not to get too tense and to keep my head up all of the time," Martinez said.In other matches, Belgian teen and eighth seed Justine Henin cruised into the second round after beating Virgine Razanno of France 6-4, 6-2.Earlier, Arizona-based Meghann Shaughnessy won the battle of the American main draw entrants with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Sandra Cacic.Australian women's hardcourt resultsResults from the US $170,000 Australian women's hardcourt tennis championships at Royal Pines (number in parentheses denotes seeding):First Round(3) Silvia Talaja (Cro) bt Asa Carlsson (Swe) 4-6 6-3 6-4Second Round(1) Conchita Martinez (Sp) def Giulia Casoni (It) 6-4, 6-4 (6) Meghann Shaughnessy (US) def Sandra Cacic (US) 6-4, 6-2 Joannette Kruger (SA) def Christina Wheeler (Aus) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 (8) Justine Henin (Bel) def Virginie Razzano (Fr) 6-4, 6-0 Andrea Glass (Ger) bt Jana Kandarr (Ger) 6-1 6-2. The International Tennis Federation today named Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten and Martina Hingis of Switzerland as its world champions for 2000.

The International Tennis Federation today named Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten and Martina Hingis of Switzerland as its world champions for 2000. Winner of the French Open for the second time and the inaugural Tennis Masters Cup when he beat Andre Agassi in the last match of the year, Kuerten is the first South American to win the award, first made in 1978, and the first non-American since Sweden's Stefan Edberg in 1991.Kuerten, who led Brazil to the Davis Cup semifinal, also became the first South American to head the rankings at the end of the year.Hingis' third world championship award in four years comes despite the fact that the 20-year-old Swiss didn't win a Grand Slam championship during 2000 and has now gone seven in a row without a title. Her last triumph was the Australian Open of 1999.But she won nine tournaments during the year including the year-end Chase Championship in New York.Announcing the awards, the ITF said Hingis proved herself the most consistent performer on the women's circuit even though Venus Williams won two Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the U.S Open and also collected the Olympic title in Sydney.. A 19-year old American created the first major upset in the $400,000 ATP Gold Flake Open in Madras, India, today, beating top seed Magnus Norman of Sweden in the first round. A 19-year old American created the first major upset in the $400,000 ATP Gold Flake Open in Madras, India, today, beating top seed Magnus Norman of Sweden in the first round. Taylor Dent, a big serving wild card entry, beat Norman 6-3, 7-6 (3).Dent broke Norman in the eighth game and then held his own serve to take the first set 6-3. But the Swede recovered, breaking Dent in the second game of the second set to go 3-0 up Dent clawed back, drawing level at 4-4.

Both players then held their serves until the tiebreaker, in which the American prevailed.In other first-round matches Tuesday, third-seeded Cedric Pioline of France was stretched to a three-set battle before beating Galo Blanco of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in a center court thriller.Pioline's famous backhand let him down as the Frenchman repeatedly failed to clear the net or hit wide. He lost the first set but bounced back in the second, breaking Blanco's serve in the first and third games.In the third set, Pioline, a semifinalist here last year, was on match point in the 10th game on Blanco's serve, but the Spaniard drew level with two brilliant crosscourt shots. Pioline managed to polish off the tie-break 7-4 to scrape through.Pioline will now meet Ronald Agenor of Haiti in the second round. Agenor, the oldest player in the tournament at 38, breezed past Thomas Zib of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2.Also in the first round, defending champion Jerome Golmard of France beat George Bastl of Switzerland 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-1, Leandar Paes of India received a second set thrashing from Tommy Robredo of Spain, losing 7-6 (4), 6-0, and sixth seed Andrea Vinciguerra of Sweden downed Michael Kratochvil of Switzerland 7-6 (4), 6-3.Zimbabwean Wayne Black was upset by Kristian Pless, a 19-year-old qualifier from Denmark.. Until now I always thought that Miss Annabel Croft had most perfectly summed up the essential futility of British tennis when she announced that she was going on to a strict diet. It was on the occasion of her retirement as a leading player in favour of a career in television. Until now I always thought that Miss Annabel Croft had most perfectly summed up the essential futility of British tennis when she announced that she was going on to a strict diet.