| | Associated Press
MONTREAL -- Anna Kournikova is growing up on the tennis
court and that is helping her win some matches.
The 19-year-old Russian relied on experience to help her cling
to an early lead and beat challenger Cara Black 6-3, 7-6 (4) in
the opening round Monday of the du Maurier Open.
|  | | Anna Kournikova says she's not trying as much silly stuff on the court as before.
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Kournikova jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first set, holding Black
to just two points. But Black rallied to take a 4-3 lead in the
second set before falling in the tiebreak.
"My game has matured," Kournikova said. "I'm playing a bit
smarter, not trying crazy shots like I used to. I wasn't thinking,
'Oh God, I'm going to lose the set, I'm going to lose the match."'
Kournikova is 152-80 in her career, but has never won a WTA
tournament.
"I kind of lost focus after going up 4-0 (in the first set),"
Kournikova said. "Cara is a smart player. I guess she didn't get
into the match right away, but she was fighting."
Canada's Vanessa Webb blamed a series of mental lapses for her
straight-set defeat to Spanish qualifier Virginia Ruano-Pascual, 6-4,
6-4.
"There were just stupid mistakes here and there," Webb said.
"I made some easy misses. I'm normally not that erratic."
Webb held or shared the lead through most of the first set.
However, Ruano-Pascual broke Webb's serve to jump ahead 5-4.
Webb committed nine double-faults, compared to none for
Ruano-Pascual. Webb had 26 unforced errors, seven more than her
opponent.
Also on Monday, Nathalie Dechy of France beat Alexandra
Stevenson 6-3, 6-4; South African Amanda Coetzer, the No. 9 seed,
defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand 6-2, 6-2 and Chanda Rubin,
the 15th seed, beat Paola Suarez 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2.
Sabine Appelmans of Belgium beat Jelena Dokic of Australia, 6-7
(6), 6-4, 7-6 (5) and Jana Nejedly beat American qualifier Samantha
Reeves 6-3, 6-3. Appelmans will play Kournikova on Tuesday.
Stevenson, who last year became the first woman qualifier to
reach the semifinals at Wimbledon, has only 10 victories in 30 matches
this year.
Stevenson, 19, has seen her ranking drop to 76 from 36 after her
rookie performance at Wimbledon.
The top eight seeds had first-round byes in the event that has
drawn 43 of the top 50 players.
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ALSO SEE
Monday's results
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