ZURICH, Oct 16: Anna Kournikova’s injury comeback continued to stall Tuesday as she lost 6-0 4-6 6-3 to Amanda Coetzer in the Swisscom Challenge, her fifth successive first-round defeat.

Having double-faulted 25 times in a first-round loss to Anne Kremer last week in Filderstadt, Kournikova again struggled with her serve.

She gifted Coetzer an early break and the petite South African raced through the first set in just 23 minutes.

Kournikova opened the second set with a break but then squandered the advantage, double faulting twice to allow Coetzer to immediately break back on her way to a 4-1 lead.

On the verge of another quick exit, the 20-year-old Russian suddenly discovered her form.

Playing with surprising confidence, Kournikova attacked the net with authority. Her groundstrokes, which had continually sailed wide in the opening set, began to find the line as she swept the next five games to level the match.

The contest remained tight in the third set. But Coetzer collected the decisive break to go up 5-3 and then held serve to extend Kournikova’s winless run.

Having missed much of the season following a left-foot stress fracture in February, the Russian has been unable to rediscover the form that had carried her into the top 10 of the world rankings.

Earlier in the day, Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova provided the $1.1 million tournament with its first upset after easing past sixth seeded American Meghann Shaughnessy 6-3 6-4.—Reutesr