ANTWERP, Belgium, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Top seed Venus Williams of the United States ended Russian Anna Kournikova's bid for her first career title Tuesday in the second round of the inaugural Proximus Diamond Games.
After receiving a wild card berth into the tournament, Williams struggled in the first set before coming away with 7-5, 6-0 victory.
"Anna played really well in the first set, didn't make any easy errors," Williams said. "I didn't serve as well as I could but I was happy to up my level in the second round and get the win."
Kournikova, who reached a pair of semifinals this year at Auckland and Tokyo, had her chances in the first set Tuesday. But she failed to convert any of her eight break-point opportunities.
"I had a lot of chances tonight," Kournikova said. "I didn't convert on any of my breakpoints. She played well and then just played better on the crucial points. In the second set I lost it a bit mentally and it was too difficult to comeback."
Second-seeded Justin Henin of Belgium also advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over countrywoman Els Callens.
No. 6 Magdalena Maleva of Bulgaria joined Williams and Henin in the quarterfinals after posting a 6-4, 6-3 victory over American Meilen Tu.
Seventh-seeded Anne Kremer of Luxembourg and No. 8 Daniela Hantuchova were not as fortunate in the second round. Kremer was beaten by Eva Dyrberg of Denmark, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (13-11), while Hantuchova suffered a 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 loss to Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic.
In first round matches of unseeded players, Marie-Gaiane Mikaelian of Switzerland ousted Natalie Dechy of France, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and qualifier Zsofia Gubacsi of Hungary defeated Neffa-De Los Rios of Paraguay, 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 7-5.
