Kournikova safely through

Kournikova brushed off her Australian Open misery

Anna Kournikova put her miserable first round loss at the Australian Open behind her to beat Spain's Cristina Torrens-Valero 6-3 6-0 in Tokyo's Pan Pacific Open.

The 20-year-old Russian began badly, losing her first service game but she hit back hard to brush aside Torrens-Valero in 48 minutes in Tuesday's first round.

Kournikova spent eight months out with a stress fracture in her left foot in 2001.

But she came back to land the Australian Open doubles title with Martina Hingis in Melbourne.

And after an impressive singles victory in Tokyo she insisted she was poised to break back into the world's top 10 after seeing her world ranking slip to number 99.

"I felt like a beginner when I came back," said Kournikova, who has been ranked as high as eight in the world.

"It was tough being in a wheelchair, just eating popcorn and watching movies.

Kournikova is getting back to her best

"But now I feel like a fish in water again

"I still need to play more matches, then hopefully I can climb back up the rankings.

"I would say I am at 75% right now."

Kournikova, who is still chasing her first singles title on the WTA tour, will play either fellow Russian Elena Dementieva or Japanese qualifier Saori Obata in the second round.

In other matches, South Africa's number eight seed Amanda Coetzer beat American Lisa Raymond 7-5 6-4, while sixth seed Magdalena Maleeva eased past Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic 6-4 6-4.

Austrian Barbara Schett thrashed Spain's Magui Serna 6-1 6-3 and will face fourth seed Sandrine Testud of France in the second round.

Top seed Martina Hingis, runner-up to Jennifer Capriati in Melbourne, received a first-round bye and will play German Marlene Weingartner, who beat Japan's Rika Fujiwara 6-1 7-6.