Kournikova scrapes through

2002-02-05 23:03

Estelle Shirbon Paris - Anna Kournikova fought back to overcome Swiss qualifier Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-7 6-4 6-4 in the first round of the Paris Open indoor tournament on Tuesday as she struggled with jetlag after flying in from Tokyo.

The Russian started the match aggressively, breaking her opponent early in the first set, but a string of unforced errors and double faults enabled Gagliardi to recover.

The Swiss player, ranked 78th in the world, eventually took the set to a tiebreak, which she won 7-3.

Kournikova recovered from two service breaks down to take the second set 6-4 but her see-saw performance continued in the third set when she had to resist two fight-backs from Gagliardi, who was 2-0 and 5-2 down, before wrapping up the match 6-4.

The Russian blamed her uneven performance on jetlag and the change from a faster surface at last week's Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, where she reached the semi-final.

"I was sleeping. It was a really strange match, I don't remember it very well," she told reporters.

"I was playing two points good and then two points bad... I had to connect the dots."

"It was good for me to win today without playing my best tennis," she said.

The 20-year-old, currently ranked 86th in the world after being sidelined for eight months last year with a foot injury, was upbeat about her prospects for this season.

"I'm in a really good direction. I'm starting to play like myself again. I really enjoy being out there again," she said.

"It was really hard coming back after such a long break but I've been playing pretty well lately," she said, mentioning her performance in Tokyo and at the Australian Open.

Kournikova lost to American Monica Seles in Tokyo and won the Australian open doubles title with Martina Hingis.

The Russian now plays defending champion and third seed Amelie Mauresmo of France in the second round of the Paris Open on Wednesday.

- Reuters