Hingis trailed 4-3 in the opening set before pulling her game together.

The Swiss star had not played since beating Lindsay Davenport in the final of the Ericsson Open in Miami. Davenport still gained the No. 1 ranking later in April, but Hingis could recapture the spot by the end of this week.

Hingis, who won the Hamburg tournament in 1998, was the first of the top seeded players to go into action on the red clay of the Rothenbaum club.

The top four seeds had byes into the second round. No. 2 Venus Williams, the defending champion, opens her campaign Thursday against Irina Spirlea.

Anna Kournikova won in straight sets and Anke Huber needed three Wednesday to advance to the second round.

The sixth-seeded Kournikova, an 18-year-old Russian, cruised past Anna Smashnova of Israel 6-3, 6-2.

Huber, the seventh-seeded German who is seeking to win her second tournament this year after triumphing in Estoril, Portugal, last month, downed Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.

``I lost my concentration in the second set, and I am glad she missed a few shots in the third,'' Huber said.

Leading 4-3 in the second, Huber failed to convert three break points and went on to drop her own serve to give Chladkova a 5-4 lead.

The Czech took the second set but Huber rallied quickly in the third, opening a decisive 2-0 lead and breezing through the rest of the match.

Before Estoril, Huber had not won a tournament since 1996. Last weekend, she helped Germany retain a place in the World Group of the Fed Cup by winning five of six matches.

``It's been good for my confidence,'' she said.

Fifth-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria retired in the second set of her first-round match against Tatiana Panova of Russia because of a viral infection. Panova was leading 6-3, 1-0 when Schett quit.

Magui Serna of Spain, a ``lucky loser'' from the qualifying round, upset Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7). Schnyder wasted five match points in the tiebreaker.