Kournikova cruises past Garbin

Kournikova was a comfortable winner over Garbin

Click here for Wednesday's results

Anna Kournikova, targeting her debut singles win on the WTA Tour, cruised through to the quarter-finals of the Mexican Open.

The Russian was rarely made to work for a simple 6-1 6-2 win over Tathiana Garbin on Wednesday.

And she was brimming with confidence after the result.

"That was almost a perfect match for me," said Kournikova.

"But I must also keep working hard to reach my best tennis, especially after such a long lay-off with injury."

Kournikova will now meet Slovakia's Janette Husarova who pulled off the surprise of the second round with a 3-6 6-2 6-3 victory over Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.

Sanchez-Vicario was a surprise early casualty

Sanchez-Vicario had been given a bye into the second round as the tournament's second seed and started strongly against Husarova to easily wrap up the first set.

But the next two sets were littered with errors which effectively gifted victory to her opponent.

Wednesday's tennis worsened an already miserable tournament for Spanish tennis as Sanchez-Vicario followed Conchita Martinez and Gala Leon Garcia as early casualties.

Martinez was defeated on Tuesday while Leon Garcia lost 6-4 6-4 to Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the Acapulco tournament, defending champion Amanda Coetzer overwhelmed Ruano Pascual 6-2 6-2.

Top seed Elena Dementieva was also a second-round winner, defeating Argentina's Maria Emilia Salerni 7-6 6-7 6-1.

Dementieva remains on course to face her fellow Russian, Kournikova, in the final of the $200,000 event.

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Wednesday's results:

Women's singles

K Srebotnik (Slovenia) bt (6) G L Garcia (Sp) 6-4 6-4
(4) C Torrens-Valero (Sp) bt E Bes (Sp) 6-1 6-2
J Husarova (Slovakia) bt 2-A Sanchez-Vicario 3-6 6-2 6-3
(7) P Suarez (Arg) bt C Beigbeder (Fr) 6-3 6-0
E Loit (Fr) bt J Kandarr (Ger) 3-6 6-4 6-3
(1) E Dementieva (Rus) bt M E Salerni (Arg) 7-6 (5) 6-7 (5) 6-1
A Kournikova (Rus) T Garbin (It) 6-1 6-2
(3) A Coetzer (SA) bt V Ruano Pascual (Sp) 6-2 6-2