Tennis: Russian in hurry to make progress

ANNA KOURNIKOVA advanced to the second round of the Canadian Open with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alexandra Fusai. The 15th seed was playing for the first time since spraining her right thumb at the pre-Wimbledon tournament at Eastbourne.

The Canadian Open's top eight seeds have first-round byes, and the highest- seeded player in action on Monday, the 10th-seeded Patty Schnyder, was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by a qualifier, Florencia Labat of Argentina.

Greg Rusedski will today make his comeback from injury in the RCA Championships in Indianapolis. The British No 1 will be testing the ankle he damaged at Queen's and which has kept him off court since failing to complete a first-round match at Wimbledon against the Australian Mark Draper almost two months ago.

Meanwhile, Mark Philippoussis fired eight aces on his way to a 6-3, 6- 2 victory on Monday night against South African Grant Stafford to reach the second round of the RCA Championships.