PARIS, May 24 (AFP) - World number one Martina Hingis eased into the second round of the French Open women's singles with a straight sets victory over Dutch player Amanda Hopmans. Hingis, the top seed, took exactly one hour to defeat Hopmans 6-1, 6-4 when the tournament started Monday under cloudy skies on the slow red clay at Roland Garros. Hingis is set now for a second-round meeting with the player she beat in the Australian Open final in January - unseeded French powerhouse Amelie Mauresmo. The French player was to face Tara Snyder of the United States in her opening match on centre court later in the day. Hopmans, playing the first Grand Slam tournament of her career, made an encouraging start when she broke Hingis' serve in the opening game, but the match quickly became one-way traffic. Feisty Swiss miss Hingis has won five Slams already in her short career. The 18-year-old has never triumphed in the French Open but was far too solid and had too much variety for the inconsistent Hopmans, who struggled on her own serve. Hingis won the first set in just 22 minutes but encountered stiffer resistance in the second set, when Hopmans fought back from a break down to level at 3-3 before Hingis quickly re-established control. "You are always a bit nervous before Grand Slams start," said Hingis. "The clay was even slower than I expected and I was already mentally looking forward to the next match." A Hingis-Mausremo meeting could be tension-charged. Hingis sparked controversy in Melbourne by saying the muscular Mauresmo - who makes no secret of her lesbianism - was "half a man". Hingis said she planned to watch Mauresmo in action. "I'm going to watch how she does. We'll see. It's definitely going to be a good match between us (if Mauresmo wins)," she said. Hingis said her loss to Mauresmo in the Paris Indoors in February had not been a major blow. "It wasn't a huge loss," she said. "But she is a dangerous player and I'll certainly be taking her seriously." Fourth-seed Jana Novotna, the former Wimbledon champion from the Czech Republic, was made to work rather harder than Hingis for her place in the second round. Novotna, who is playing at Roland Garros for the 14th time and was semi-finalist in 1990 and 1996, downed Ludmila Cervanova of Slovakia 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) to reverse a loss to Cervanova earlier in the year. In-form Austrian Barbara Schett, seeded 15, was also among the early women's winners, beating Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-2. Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, a finalist here back in 1988, also progressed with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Christina Papadaki of Greece and could face fifth-seeded Venus Williams in her next match.  