MELBOURNE, Australia -- Lleyton Hewitt's first time as a No. 1 seed in a Grand Slam event will be one he'll want to forget.

Hewitt became the first top seed to lose in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament since 1990 when he lost in four sets Tuesday to Spaniard Alberto Martin at the Australian Open.

Hewitt, the world's top-ranked player and first homegrown top seed at the Australian Open since 1976, breezed through the first set, then crumbled to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (4) defeat in 3 hours, 33 minutes.

He joined No. 2 Gustavo Kuerten and No. 3 Andre Agassi, the winners here in 2000 and 2001, as early casualties of the season's first major.

Agassi withdrew before a ball was hit, citing a wrist injury he picked up in an exhibition match Saturday against Pete Sampras. Kuerten lost in five sets Monday.

Stefan Edberg was No. 1 seed at the 1990 U.S. Open when he lost his opener 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-2 to Russia's Alexander Volkov.

No top seed had been eliminated in the first round of an Australian Open in the Open era.

Hewitt, the U.S. Open champion, was sidelined with chicken pox since the Hopman Cup earlier this month and had one low-key exhibition match.

"I was struggling out there," he said. "I thought I hit the ball pretty cleanly, but my movement and fitness" wasn't there.

"I knew I was in trouble right from the start. I hadn't played a serious match for a week and a half or two weeks. I tried to put him under the gun from the first set."

Hewitt said he wouldn't have played if it wasn't a Grand Slam, but added that he enjoyed being No. 1 seed for a major.

He looked like he might turn the match around when he broke for 2-1 and then 3-2 in the fourth set. But Martin broke back twice and evened it at 4-4.

The Australian led 3-0 in the tiebreaker, but fell behind 5-4 when Martin sent him back with a lob and then put away an overhead.

Hewitt, who twice during the fourth set called the trainer to attend to blisters on his feet and to massage his hamstrings, waited nervously in the tiebreaker when Martin, leading 5-4, got courtside treatment on both upper legs.

Serving for survival, Hewitt hit a backhand out to give Martin two match points and then dumped a backhand into the net.

The 20-year-old Australian, who won the Masters Cup last November to finish at No. 1, said Martin's timeout was unfair, coming at a crucial time.

Martin finished 2001 at No. 41 and had notched just one win in four Australian Opens.

"I beat good players, but never beat the No. 1 in his home," Martin said. "I knew that I can beat anyone. The next step is to be every day at a good level."

He rejected Hewitt's assertion that he'd bent the rules, saying his break was within the laws of tennis, and it was something that's "happened a thousand times."

Sampras opened with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win over Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.

The 30-year-old American wasted four match points on Nieminen's serve at 3-5 in the third, but set up another in the next game with his 13th ace and finished with a service winner.

"That's what I was needing," he said. "My game was there. I served well, I was putting pressure on his serve."

Sampras said the absence of Agassi and Kuerten helps his bid for a 14th Grand Slam title and his first since Wimbledon 2000.

"I'm one of the favorites," he said. "When I get my game going, I'm tough to beat."

And he said that before Hewitt's loss. He'd rated the young Aussie a tough favorite and then said: "I'm in that league."

Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the 1999 Australian Open champion, is the highest seed left in the draw. He's No. 4. Sampras is No. 8.

Tommy Haas, the seventh seed, ousted Russian Andrei Stoliarov 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 and No. 19 Jan-Michael Gambill lost for the fifth consecutive year in the Australian Open's first round.

Wayne Ferreira, ranked 63rd and playing his 45th consecutive Grand Slam event, beat Gambill 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

No. 11 Roger Federer won 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 against Michael Chang, who has fallen to No. 94 from his career-high No. 2 ranking in 1996.

Other first round winners were veteran American Todd Martin, former No. 1 Marcelo Rios and 20-year-old American Mardy Fish, who knocked out No. 20 Fabrice Santoro 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.