The diminutive 66th-ranked Panova had success retrieving and waiting for 24 Seles unforced errors in the first before Seles found her range in the second and third sets of the two hour and six-minute match.

Top-seed Martina Hingis of Switzerland won her opening match with ease, beating American Corina Morariu 6-0, 6-3.

Hingis will play 16th-seeded American Chanda Rubin in a Thursday third-round match. The 23rd-ranked Rubin defeated France's Nathalie Dechy 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

Third-seeded Mary Pierce of France said she was happy to win but still felt her form was not what she would like after a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 victory over Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir.

In a second-round match featuring South Africans, sixth seed Amanda Coetzer downed Joannette Kruger 6-1, 6-2.

``I just started hitting five days ago so I'm not very confident with my shots,'' Seles said, referring to her return to action after problems with a stress fracture in her right foot and a left forearm injury.

``I'm testing it (the foot) this week so I'll see how it goes,'' she said. ``I really wanted to play here with the U.S. Open coming up (August 30).''

Asked if she would miss longtime rival Steffi Graf of Germany who retired last week, Seles replied, ``I'd probably have missed her five years ago, but things have changed so much and there's so many other players today.''

Seles meets Russian Elena Likhovtseva in Thursday's third round.

Hingis was pleased with her showing against the 37th-ranked Morariu. ``I just pressured her right away and she kind of didn't get into the rhythm,'' Hingis said.

In her post-match press conference, a relaxed Hingis discussed a wide variety of subjects. ``I definitely have to watch my mouth more sometimes,'' she said about some of the controversy she has brought on herself at times this year. ``But it's all part of the learning process. Hopefully, I'm not too old or too young to learn from things.''

Askd if she had a special talent, Hingis said, ``I don't think I'm such a talent. It didn't just come down to me from heaven. Pete Sampras is a talent and I once asked him if he knows why he plays so well. He said he just goes out on court and it's just a feel he has from playing lots of tennis, hitting lots of balls.''