Tennis: Service faults fail to stop Kournikova

ANNA KOURNIKOVA, still attempting to overcome a problem with her serve that affected her at the Australian Open, beat Germany's Anke Huber 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open yesterday.

The Russian, seeded No 6, opened with a pair of double faults in her first two service games in a set where both players managed to win just one service game each.

"I wasn't nervous at all, but I had to adjust to the surface, which is really quick. I was just trying to hit the ball hard and go for my shots," she said.

In only her second visit to Japan, Kournikova, who overcame her singles disappointment to win the doubles title in Australia with Martina Hingis, says she feels more relaxed this time.

"Winning the doubles in Australia has given me confidence, but it hasn't changed much. I still need more experience, but the more matches I play the higher my ranking will get."

Huber let Kournikova off the hook in the first set with a string of unforced errors. None was more costly than the double fault which the German served at 4-4 in the tie-break.

Kournikova, ranked 12th in the world, improved her serve in the second set and cruised to an easy win.

The seventh seed, Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, had a much easier time in her first-round victory over Magui Serna of Spain which she won 6-2 6-1. Coetzer will face Els Callens of Belgium in the second round. Callens won 6-3 6-1 against the American Kimberly Po.

Ai Sugiyama of Japan eased past Shi-ting Wang of Taiwan 6-2 6-3 to place her in an extremely testing second-round confrontation with Hingis, the second seed.

Hingis, the top seed Lindsay Davenport, the third seed Jana Novotna and Monica Seles all had first-round byes.