Seles ‘Wows’ Pampoulova, Reaches 2nd Round : Tennis: She takes only 44 minutes to crush Bulgarian 6-0, 6-0.

NEW YORK —  Monica Seles kept her eye on the ball today, much to the detriment of Elena Pampoulova.

“This place has a different feel about it,” Seles said of the canyon-esque Louis Armstrong Stadium at the National Tennis Center. “Each Grand Slam is unique. You look up and it’s so high that you can’t see the end of it, and you think to yourself, ‘Wow.’ ”

She wowed Pampoulova, taking only 44 minutes to crush the Bulgarian 6-0, 6-0 and move into the second round of the year’s fourth and final Grand Slam tournament.

“This is a better court than any other Grand Slam tournament,” Seles said of the concrete-and-steel edifice. “You see the ball better here.”

Pampoulova’s eyesight apparently wasn’t as good. She won only 23 points in the match, six in the second set. Seles won 54.

Other early opening day winners were Dinky van Rensburg of South Africa, Natalia Medvedeva of the Soviet Union, Sandra Cecchini of Italy and Julie Halard of France.

Van Rensburg defeated Eva Sviglerova of Czechoslovakia 6-3, 6-1; Medvedeva beat Terry Phelps 6-4, 6-2; Cecchini defeated Jana Pospisilova of Czechoslovakia 6-3; 6-1, and Halard beat Brenda Schultz of The Netherlands 6-2, 6-4.

Eleventh-seeded Helena Sukova of Czechoslovakia escaped a first-round threat from England’s Jo Durie, winning 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5).

In men’s singles, sixth-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria advanced when Aki Rahunen of Finland retired while trailing 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, 3-0.

Other men to post first-round victories included Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 over Ivan Baron of Plantation, Fla., and South Africa’s Gary Muller, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 over Roberto Azar of Argentina.

Seles is one of the favorites, along with defending champion Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, to win the women’s title.

Last year, she was eliminated in straight sets by crowd favorite Chris Evert in the quarterfinals. It was the final match victory in Evert’s 19-year career.

Two longtime crowd favorites will be missing this year. Evert retired after last year’s tournament, while Jimmy Connors, a five-time U.S. Open champion, withdrew Sunday because of a strained left calf suffered Saturday in a match against Ivan Lendl.