After a summer of turmoil, Hingis rebounded from two painful losses in recent months with a tough 7-5, 6-3 victory Tuesday over Chanda Rubin in the $520,000 TIG Classic.

There was great sense of relief afterward for the second-ranked Hingis.

``It was very important for me to get the confidence back,'' Hingis said. ``Maybe it wasn't the greatest match but I won at the end.''

The only seeded player to fall Tuesday was No. 8 Nathalie Tauziat of France, a 6-3, 6-1 loser to qualifier Anke Huber of Germany.

In other first-round matches, sixth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain beat Russia's Elena Likhovtsena 6-2, 1-6, 6-4; No. 7 Amanda Coetzer of South Africa defeated Lisa Raymond 6-7 (1-7) 6-1, 6-1; and unseeded Anna Kournikova of Russia was a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) winner over Meilen Tu.

By most standards, Hingis' season has been a success. But for the five-time Grand Slam champion, 1999 has been a disappointment.

Although she won the year's first Grand Slam at Australia, and added three more titles, her season took a decided downward turn in the French Open.

Hingis' meltdown in a three-set loss to Steffi Graf in the finals brought out her detractors.

The Swiss teenager then traveled to Wimbledon without her mother and coach, Melanie Monitor, and was promptly eliminated 6-2, 6-0 in the first round by qualifier Jelena Dokic.

``I was in bad shape,'' Hingis admitted. ``I don't know what was going on there, not much.''

Hingis has not played since until returning here to begin preparation for the U.S. Open. She used the time off for a much-needed vacation and four weeks of intense training in Tampa, Fla.

``Everything wasn't great but I'm working on it,'' Hingis, 19, said. ``The last four weeks, they've passed so quickly and I feel good again.''

Rubin came into the match with a 2-1 career record against Hingis, winning their most recent outing at Indian Wells in March.

The hard-hitting American gave Hingis fits in the first set before Hingis scored service breaks to take leads of 5-4 and 6-5 and finally served out the set.

Although Hingis' game showed signs of rust, Rubin was erratic in the second set and was unable to stay with Hingis.

``It was very important for me,'' Hingis said. ``I could see where I'm standing.''

Sanchez-Vicario, a three-time finalist here, cruised through the first set before Likhovtseva rolled through the second set. Sanchez-Vicario came through with numerous key shots in the decisive final set.

``It was going to be a tough match,'' Sanchez-Vicario, 27, said. ``In the third set, it could go either way. But I finally made the shots. That gives me a lot of confidence.''