PARIS (Ticker) -- Third-seeded American Monica Seles and Germany's Steffi Graf showed why they have combined for eight French Open titles as they rolled past their opening-round opponents today at the $10.5 million Grand Slam event. Seles, who advanced to last year's final just three weeks after her father passed away, needed just over an hour to take out Fang Li of China, 6-2, 6-4. Graf, who missed last year's event due to injury, turned the clock back 10 years as she destroyed Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, 6-2, 6-0, in 49 minutes. On the men's side, two players in contention for Yevgeny Kafelnikov's No. 1 ranking were victorious. Third seed Patrick Rafter of Australia dumped Swiss teenager Roger Federer, 5-7, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2, and eighth seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, the 1997 champion, disposed of Spain's Galo Blanco, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. In addition, sixth seed Alex Corretja of Spain, last year's runner-up, dispatched countryman German Puentes, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, 6-2, and No. 16 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, this year's Australian Open runner-up, got past Argentina's Hector Moretti, 4-6, 6-0, 6-4, 6-2. No. 11 Karol Kucera of Slovakia became the second men's seed to get knocked out as Sweden's Magnus Larsson posted a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 upset. Second-seeded American Pete Sampras began his quest for that elusive first title at Roland Garros and is playing Juan Antonio Marin of Costa Rica. Also, 10th seed Mark Philippoussis faces fellow Australian Jason Stoltenberg, and No. 14 Felix Mantilla of Spain, a semifinalist last year, battles Frenchman Rodolphe Gilbert. For the women, second-seeded American Lindsay Davenport, who won her second title at last week's Yellow Pages Open in Spain, meets countrywoman Jane Chi later today. Earlier, ninth seed Nathalie Tauziat downed fellow Frenchwoman Amelie Cocheteux, 6-4, 6-3; No. 11 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland outlasted American Corina Morariu, 3-6, 6-3, 8-6; and No. 16 Julie Halard-Decugis of France rallied past Karina Habsudova of Slovakia, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 No. 14 Amanda Coetzer, however, suffered her second straight first-round loss at Roland Garros as Japan's Ai Sugiyama bounced the diminutive South African, 7-5, 6-1. In addition, eighth seed and 1994 finalist Mary Pierce of France meets South Africa's Joannette Kruger, and American Jennifer Capriati, who rolled to her first singles title in over six years at last week's Strasbourg International in France, battles Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual. At age 14, Capriati became the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist at the 1990 French Open and was a quarterfinalist in 1992-93 before running into drug and legal problems. In other matchups of note, Russian teenager Anna Kournikova plays Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand and Spain's Conchita Martinez meets Cara Black of Zimbabwe. Sampras has played in only six tournaments this season due to a season-opening hiatus and assorted ailments. His best results of the year were a semifinal appearance at the Sybase Open and a quarterfinal match at the Lipton Championships. He lost to Ramon Delgado of Paraguay here last year and is 22-9 lifetime at the French Open. On Monday, defending champion Carlos Moya and Kafelnikov both struggled in their first-round matches today, but women's top seed Martina Hingis and sisters Venus and Serena Williams had no trouble advancing to the second round. Moya, the fourth seed, gutted out a 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 first-round win over Austria's Markus Hipfl. Kafelnikov, the top seed, began his bid for his second straight Grand Slam title by getting past American Michael Chang, 6-2, 5-7, 6-0, 7-6 (10-8), in a battle of former French Open winners. Hingis started her quest for her first title at Roland Garros in impressive fashion as she disposed of Dutchwoman Amanda Hopmans, 6-1, 6-4. Fifth-seeded Venus Williams, expected to be Hingis' biggest obstacle to the title, defeated Frenchwoman Alexandra Fusai, 6-1, 6-1, in only 49 minutes. Serena Williams, the 10th seed, dumped Laurence Courtois of Belgium, 6-4, 6-0. Defending champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, the seventh seed, also stormed into the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Croatian teenager Mirjana Lucic.  