The top-seeded Hingis, who won a 6-3, 6-4 second-round match over Alexandra Stevenson at the Evert Cup Saturday, has more than lived up to the billing

The ninth-seeded Kournikova, who suffered a first-round 7-6 (7-3), 1-6, 7-5 upset at the hands of Silvia Farina of Italy Saturday, has yet to set the tour ablaze.

In another second round match, third-seeded Monica Seles survived a tough first set to earn a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 victory over Elena Likhovtseva of Russia.

While the 18-year-old Hingis has achieved the world No. 1 ranking, won 21 career titles, including three Australian Opens, one Wimbledon and one U.S. Open, Kournikova has yet to bring home the winner's trophy after 49 tournaments.

The closest Kournikova has come to a title was when she lost to Venus Williams in last year's Lipton Championships.

``I think I just have to be a little bit more consistent,'' Kournikova said. ``I'm just going to play matches and play tournaments, and try to win as many as possible. I'm going to look forward and try not to get very disappointed if something goes wrong.''

The 11th-ranked Kournikova arrived here still feeling the effects of a bout with influenza. She believes that took its toll on her performance against the 22nd-ranked Farina.

``The only problem right now is that I don't feel physically a hundred percent,'' Kournikova said. ``I'll be taking a lot of medicine, hopefully, to get better.

``Any loss is disappointing, for sure. But I have to look forward and go on and work harder.''

The match started out oddly as the first eight games were service breaks until Farina finally held serve in the ninth game.

After losing the first-set tiebreaker of the two hour, 19 minute match, Kournikova picked up the pace in the second set. She only allowed Farina to hold serve once, in the fourth game.

``I lose the concentration at the beginning of the second set, especially the first game after the tiebreaker,'' said Farina, who is now 3-3 in career matches with the Russian. ''Anna, she's a great fighter. I didn't move a lot -- my feet felt like stuck on the court.''

But she couldn't keep the momentum up in the third set.

Kournikova was able to recoup an early service break in the final set, but in the end, had her serve broken four times in the third set.

It took Hingis only 63 minutes to dispatch the 126th-ranked Stevenson, a wildcard recipient who remains an amateur and still attends high school in San Diego.

While Hingis and Stevenson are both 18-years-old, they are light years apart in ability at this point.

In the first set, Stevenson won only four points on Hingis's serve. But in the second set, she was able to break the Swiss star's serve twice, in the fifth and seventh games.

``I lost my serve there twice, so I was a little bit upset, maybe disappointed the way I gave up those games,'' Hingis said. ''Especially since I was up 3-1 and could have closed it out sooner, but I didn't.

``She played some great games there, she didn't miss as much as before.''