Kournikova survives first round of Canadian Open

Charles Grandmont, Reuters, Montreal

Anna Kournikova advanced to the second round of the Canadian Open with a 6-3 6-1 win over qualifier Saori Obata on Monday.

Despite a shaky service game in the first set, the 21-year-old Russian player, ranked 40th before the US$1.2 million tournament began, easily disposed of her 24-year-old Japanese opponent in just 45 minutes.

"I was hitting the ball really well today," said Kournikova, who has yet to win a singles title on the women's tour. "In general, my game is getting back and coming together finally."

Kournikova will play her second round match against Spaniard qualifier Virginia Ruano Pascual who upset Luxembourg's 14th seed Anne Kremer in a comfortable 6-1 6-0 victory.

In other matches, France's Mary Pierce, a former world number three but is now ranked 49th after a series of injuries, lost 7-6 6-7 7-5 to qualifier Henrieta Nagyova, in a match that lasted almost three hours on a sun-drenched centre court.

"Basically, pretty much everything was missing today," said Pierce, who won the French Open in 2000. "I'm not too sure what's going on but I'll need to figure it out."

Two other seeded players, Russia's Anastasia Myskina and Israel's Anna Smashnova crashed out of the first round on Monday.

Myskina, the 11th seed, lost to Argentina's Clarisa Fernandez 6-3 6-1, while 13th seed Smashnova lost 6-2 7-6 to American Alexandra Stevenson.

However ninth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, and 10th seeded Italian Sylvia Farina Elia both advanced with victories over Italy's Adriana Serra Zanetti and Canada's Maureen Drake respectively.

The other Canadian in the singles draw, Jana Nejedly, lost to American Sarah Taylor 6-1 6-0. Taylor will now play compatriot Jennifer Capriati, the world number three who received a first- round bye, in the second round.

World number one Serena Williams, who also received a bye in to the second round, will meet Colombia's Fabiola Zuluaga, who defeated Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova 6-1 6-2 on Monday.

Former world number one Martina Hingis, who will play her first competitive match since undergoing ankle surgery in May in the second round on Tuesday, will meet Spain's Magui Serna, who beat Paraguay's Rossana Neffa-de los Rios 6-3 2-6 6-2.

The 21 year-old from Switzerland is ranked sixth for the tournament.