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Kournikova crumbles again

Anna Kournikova is struggling to regain her singles form

Anna Kournikova suffered her third consecutive first-round defeat as Anne Kremer fought back to take victory at the Porsche Grand Prix in Filderstadt.

Kournikova was beaten 4-6 6-2 7-5 in one hour and 53 minutes by Kremer, ranked number 32 in the world.

The Russian only returned to competition last month after being out for the best part of nine months with a foot injury.

But after defeats in Leipzig and Moscow, the world number 22 admitted it would take some time to get back to her best.

That showed in Filderstadt as Kournikova served an amazing 25 double faults on her way to defeat against Kremer.

"Right now it is difficult for me to set goals for myself," said the Russian. "All I can do is wait and hope things get better."

There was better news for Kournikova in the doubles as she teamed up with Martina Hingis to beat the veteran duo of Martina Navratilova and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-3 6-4.

Top seed Hingis, who had a bye into round two, earlier overcame a terrible start against Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva in the singles.

Hingis dropped the opening set without getting a game before coming back to take the match 0-6 6-4 6-2.

Maleeva raced through the first set in 19 minutes, hitting a succession of unplayable passes and returns.

But Hingis is desperate to take the title and so protect her lead over Jennifer Capriati in the world rankings.

She picked up her game and came through in 86 minutes as Maleeva tired.

"The beginning of the indoor season is always a bit difficult because you need time to adapt to the quick surface," said Hingis.

"She played really well and I could hardly follow the ball. Fortunately I then started to play better."

Second seed Capriati had little difficutly in beating Dutch qualifier Miriam Oremans 6-1 6-4.

Oremans had knocked out former French Open champion Iva Majoli of Croatia in the first round.

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