MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Martina Hingis narrowly avoided another early-round exit, holding off qualifier Lisa Raymond 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 Wednesday night in the Acura Classic.

Hingis, the No. 2 seed, was bounced out of Wimbledon in the first round. She took a month off and returned to win last week's tournament in Carlsbad, Calif.

But she ran into the determined Raymond, whose deep groundstrokes and hard serves kept Hingis on the defensive for most of the 1 1/2-hour match.

``It's very tough playing her,'' Hingis said. ``She slices that backhand very deep. You have to work for your points. She doesn't give anything for free.''

After cruising through the first set, Hingis' serve was broken to start the second set when she netted a backhand. Another backhand error by the Swiss teen-ager put Raymond ahead 3-1.

Raymond led 5-4 when she fought off two break points, got to deuce, then hit consecutive forehand volley winners to win the set.

``Against Martina, you feel you have to hit a great shot,'' Raymond said.

The players traded breaks to open the final set as the crowd grew louder in its support of Raymond, who is ranked 29th in the world and has one career victory over Hingis in five meetings.

``She knows I certainly have the game to beat her,'' Raymond said. ``She was getting pretty fussy there in the second and third. I really felt like I could win.''

With Hingis ahead 4-3, Raymond again had two break points against her, only to get to deuce with a backhand volley winner. She twice held the advantage, but netted a backhand for the third deuce.

Hingis pounced with a backhand passing shot for her third break point. Raymond missed her first serve, then drilled a forehand into the net to trail 5-3.

``Martina's experienced enough that she knows when she's down an ad, she's going to go for it. And she did, she hit a great return at my feet,'' Raymond said.

Hingis easily served out the match, hitting an ace on match point.

No. 3 Mary Pierce, enjoying her highest ranking in a year but still without a title in 1999, defeated Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 7-5.

Pierce, ranked sixth in the world, won four titles last year. She's reached three finals this year, but twice ran into Venus Williams and lost in straight sets.

``I'm trying to get a lot of matches on hard courts just to really give myself the best chance at the U.S. Open,'' she said.

A week ago, Sugiyama got into the TIG Classic at Carlsbad as a lucky loser and proceeded to upset Pierce in three sets in the first round.

``You don't want to think about it too much, but you don't ever forget it,'' Pierce said. ``Going out today, I was trying to think about matches when I had beaten her and what I did last week, why I lost and try to not do that again.''

Pierce, the third seed, twice broke Sugiyama's serve in the first set, occasionally venturing to the net for volleys or drop-shotting her Japanese opponent.

She broke Sugiyama's serve to open the second set, then served a love game punctuated by an ace for a 4-2 lead.

Sugiyama broke back and then held to go up 5-4. Pierce held serve, then Sugiyama committed two consecutive errors to trail 6-5. Pierce wrapped up the 1 1/2-hour match when Sugiyama's forehand went wide.

``To beat her you have to really be on your game and playing well and not making unforced errors,'' Pierce said.

In other matches, fourth-seeded Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario defeated Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania 6-3, 6-1; No. 6 Serena Williams beat Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-3, 6-1; and Julie Halard-Decugis of France got by Amy Frazier 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.

Williams needed just 47 minutes to finish off Schnyder after struggling to beat Elena Likhovtseva in three sets Tuesday night. Her sister, Venus, is cheering her on this week.

``I guess I did have a much easier time,'' Williams said. ``I don't think Patty played that good. I've played her before and she played a lot better than that. So did I.''

Williams led 3-2 when she won eight straight points to go up 5-2. Williams won the first three points of the next game but Schnyder came back to win it for 5-3.

Williams served out the set when Schnyder netted a forehand. Schnyder double-faulted to lose the first game of the second set and only had one break point on Williams' serve the entire match.

``I'm trying to cut down on my unforced errors and get a lot of balls in play and move it around and then attack,'' Williams said.

She converted 66 percent of her first serves after getting in only 52 percent against Likhovtseva.

``I served better, but I wasn't hitting them hard, just 100 (mph),'' she said. ``I can really get it up there, I've really been practicing. I can really get it up 119-120ish, I'm just not hitting that hard.''

Williams advanced to a quarterfinal against Sanchez-Vicario, who holds a 4-0 career edge.

``Be really consistent and attack her balls and expect her to get everything back,'' Williams said of her game plan. ``She has a lot more titles than I do, she's a great player, so just make sure I'm focused.

``I don't like people to hit winners on me. I don't like to see a ball go past me. That makes me feel hurt,'' she said.