Martina Hingis, seeking to protect her No. 1 ranking, struggled to a 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Magdalena Maleeva at the Porsche Grand Prix on Wednesday in Filderstadt, Germany.
Hingis has gone through 12 tournaments since February without winning a title, the longest drought of her career.
The Swiss star could lose her No. 1 ranking this week to Jennifer Capriati.
Capriati, the Australian and French Open champion, stayed on pace by easing past qualifier Miriam Oremans 6-1, 6-4 to join Hingis in the quarterfinals. Both had first-round byes.
Anne Kremer, a qualifier form Luxembourg, rallied to beat an erratic Anna Kournikova 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a first-round match.
The 20-year-old Russian committed 25 double faults in another setback in her slow comeback from a foot injury.
Kournikova did gain a victory Wednesday, teaming with Hingis to defeat Martina Navratilova and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the doubles competition.
– Yevgeny Kafelnikov made another early exit from the $800,000 CA Trophy tournament, losing 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 in the first round to Bohdan Ulihrach.
The top-seeded Russian was eliminated in the opening round in the Vienna event for the fourth time in six years.
– Hicham Arazi saved a match point before beating ninth-seeded Sjeng Schalken 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the Lyon (France) Grand Prix.
