TORONTO -- Ivan Lendl, the 12th seed, began his longshot quest for a seventh crown at the $1.72 million Canadian Open tennis tournament with a decisive 6-4, 6-1 first-round victory over Luiz Mattar of Brazil.


In the only other Tuesday match featuring a seeded player, No. 15 Richey Reneberg easily defeated fellow American Patrick McEnroe 6-3, 6-1 in the first round.


Lendl, 34, is the oldest singles player in the draw. His most recent of 94 career singles titles came at the Tokyo Indoors in October 1993. His most recent Canadian Open title, his sixth, was in 1989.


For the first time in a long time, the 30th-ranked Lendl says he feels free of the back pain that has plagued him since February. He underwent a medical procedure to alleviate the problem last month. "It was done with a needle," Lendl reported. "A very long and very pointy needle."


Lendl had a slow start against the 46th-ranked Mattar, falling behind 2-0 in the opening set. But he immediately broke even to 2-2, then on a winning backhand at 30-40 in the fifth game took a lead he never surrendered.


Dutch Open. In the upset of the day, France's Guy Forget ousted sixth-seeded Russian Andrei Chesnokov 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday in the $300,000 clay court tennis championships in Hilversum.


Top seed Alberto Berasategui, ranked No. 10 in the world, crushed fellow Spaniard Jordi Arrese 6-4, 6-2 in his first-round match.


Spaniard Javier Sanchez, seeded No. 3, beat German Lars Rehmann in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Rehmann was a late replacement for the injured Alberto Costa of Spain.


Dutch fourth seed Paul Haarhuis was too strong for his Davis Cup doubles partner Jacco Eltingh, a late wild-card entry, and won in straight sets 7-5, 7-5.


Eltingh, ranked 54, rushed to the net against the baseliner Haarhuis, ranked 27, and took each set to 5-5 before surrendering a service break.


U.S. Women's Hardcourt Championships. Angela Lettiere, a qualifier playing in her first major tournament on the tour, upset No. 6 seed Katerina Maleeva 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3) on Tuesday in the first round of the $400,000 tournament at Stratton Mountain, Vermont.


In another upset, Tami Whitlinger-Jones defeated No. 8 seed Ann Grossman 7-5, 6-1. No. 4 Amanda Coetzer routed qualifier Cristina Salvi of Italy 6-0, 6-0. (Reuters, AP)