The defending champion, Hingis was competing in her first match since having her three-year winning streak in singles and doubles snapped at the Australian Open. She lost to Lindsay Davenport in the singles final, one day after teaming with Mary Pierce and losing to Raymond and Rennae Stubbs in the doubles final.

"There was so much pressure from (Raymond) that I lost my concentration a little bit in the second set," said Hingis, who was using a new Yonnex tennis racket. "I still need a little adjustment. Since I got this new racket, it's going to help me to improve."

Hingis defeated Amanda Coetzer in last year's final. She also won here in 1997 and was runner-up two years ago to Davenport.

Coming off a second-round loss in Melbourne, Australia, third seed Nathalie Tauziat of France secured a quarterfinal berth by beating Cara Black of Zimbabwe, 6-3, 6-3.

Three seeds played their first-round matches. Sixth seed Sandrine Testud of France, who lost to Hingis in the fourth round at the Australian Open, routed Karina Habsudova of Slovakia, 6-1, 6-2.

Also, seventh seed Chanda Rubin of the United States took the first set 6-0 before Tatiana Panova of Russia retired with the flu, and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia upended eighth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan. Sugiyama, who reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in Melbourne, fell 6-3, 6-3.

In a matchup of unseeded players, Natasha Zvereva of Belarus dispatched Cristina Torrens-Valero of Spain, 6-4, 6-4.

First prize at this indoor event is $166,000.