Maleeva, Coetzer win in Pan Pacific

TOKYO, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Sixth-seeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria and No. 8 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, both looking to build on strong efforts at the Australian Open, advanced to the second round at the $1.2 million Pan Pacific Open Tuesday.

Maleeva topped Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-4, and Coetzer defeated American Lisa Raymond, 7-5, 6-4.

Maleeva and Coetzer are coming off fourth-round finishes at the year's first Grand Slam last week. Maleeva lost to Venus Williams and Coetzer fell to Martina Hingis.

Russian wild card and fan favorite Anna Kournikova, who won the Australian Open doubles title with Hingis, dispatched Spaniard Cristina Torrens Valero, 6-3, 6-0.

Kournikova, who started the year with a semifinal effort at the ASB Bank Classic in Auckland, suffered a first-round loss to Justine Henin at Melbourne.

Also on Tuesday, Italy's Rita Grande posted a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 victory over Uzbekistan's Iroda Tulyaganova, and Austria's Barbara Schett cruised past Spain's Magui Serna, 6-1, 6-3.

In addition, Marlene Weingartner of Germany defeated Japanese wild card Rika Fujiwara, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), but another wild card entrant, Argentina's Maria Emilia Salerni, got past Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.