Flushing Meadows, NY (My Sportsbook) - Roger Federer and Andre Agassi were among the winners in the first round of the U.S. Open while 15-year veteran Todd Martin announced his retirement from the tour after his early exit Monday.

The top-seeded Federer had little trouble with former French Open champ Albert Costa, posting a 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 victory, while the third-seeded Carlos Moya rallied for a 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 triumph over American Brian Baker in matinee action.

Agassi needed a first-set tiebreak to oust fellow American Robby Ginepri in the featured match of the evening. The sixth-seeded Agassi won 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, 6-2.

Federer, the top-ranked player in the world, has already won an amazing eight titles in 2004, including the Australian Open and Wimbledon, and a triumph on the hardcourts at Flushing Meadows would make him the first player to win three Grand Slam crowns in one year since Mats Wilander in 1988.

The Swiss star, however, has never advanced past the fourth round at the U.S. Open. He had also lost two of his previous three matches heading into this Grand Slam, falling in the first round at Cincinnati and losing in the second round at the Olympic Games.

Federer had no problems in his opening-round win Monday, finishing off Costa in just over two hours. He fired up 11 aces and 42 winners, compared to just one ace and 13 winners for the 2002 champ at Roland Garros.

The 34-year-old Martin, who was a runner-up at Flushing Meadows in 1999 when he lost to Agassi and was ranked as night as fourth in the world that year, Martin entered the open 96th.

"I'm going to be in tears in a moment," Martin told the fans after his 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. loss to No. 31 seed Fabrice Santoro. "Thank you very much."

In other first-round action, ninth-seeded Gaston Gaudio knocked off Juan Monaco in four sets, as did 16th-seeded Andrei Pavel, who fended off Jarkko Nieminen. American Taylor Dent moved on to the second round after his opponent Younes El Aynaoui retired trailing 6-1, 2-1.

The only seeded play to bow out Monday was No. 27 Mario Ancic, who fell in three sets to Olivier Rochus.

Other first-round winners on Day 1 were 19th-seeded Nicolas Kiefer and 25th- seeded Jiri Novak. Greg Rusedski, the 1997 U.S. Open runner-up, was eliminated in a fifth-set tiebreaker by Cyril Saulnier.