Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova won her opening round match at the Gaz de France WTA event in Paris. Kournikova defeated Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. Kournikova, who has never won a professional tournament, is ranked 86th in the world.

In other first round matches, Elena Dementieva defeated fellow Russian Elena Bovina, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Also, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia ousted Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, 7-5, 6-4; Greta Arn of Germany downed Elena Likhotseva of Russia, 6-3, 6-4; Francesa Schiavione of Italy beat Marlene Weingartner of Germany, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4; and Meilin Tu of the United States scored a 6-3, 4-2 win when Slovakian Henrieta Nagyova was forced to retire.

Sixth seed Sandrine Testud of France, who reached the quarterfinals in Sydney and in Tokyo last week, withdrew this week due to a neck injury.

Some information for this report provided by AP.

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