Rafter, seeded number two behind Pete Sampras for the upcoming Wimbledon tournament, survived a tense second-set tiebreaker, then converted an early service break in the third set into victory.

Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands also moved into the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Italian Davide Sanguinetti.

The $500,000 tournament lost a star attraction when Russia's Yevgeni Kafelnikov, the tournament's top seed and the third seed for Wimbledon, withdrew because of a toe injury just before his match against Germany's Karsten Brasch.

Kafelnikov said he was positive about being able to do well at Wimbledon next week, and left immediately for London with the intention of resting for a couple days.

In other matches involving seeded players, number five Tommy Haas of Germany beat Raemon Sluiter of the Netherlands 6-7 (7-1), 6-3, 6-2 and sixth seed Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden beat Markus Menzler of Germany 6-0, 6-3.

The only seed to lose was number eight Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, beaten 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 by Nicklas Kulti of Sweden.

Dutch players starred in the women's tournament, with Kristie Boogert beating sixth-seeded Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 and Miriam Oremans defeating fourth-seeded Silvia Farina of Italy 6-2, 6-3.

Germany's Anke Huber, seeded seventh, beat South Africa's Joanette Kruger 2-6, 7-5, 6-2; number eight Cara Black of Zimbabwe beat Fang Li of China 6-2, 6-2; and Barbara Rittner, the ninth seed from Germany, ousted Catalina Cristea of Romania 7-5, 6-4.