SHANGHAI, Sept 10: Tennis bombshell Anna Kournikova stayed calm amid a storm of attention at the Shanghai WTA tournament Tuesday to cruise to an easy first-round singles victory.

Kournikova’s 6-1, 6-4 win over unseeded Australian Mireille Dittmann was met with the enthusiastic approval of Chinese fans.

The 21-year-old fourth seed pin-up, who has been battling a severe dip in form, shook off a first-game loss to easily outpace Dittmann throughout the rest of the match with a combination of strong ground strokes and cross-court shots.

In the second set, Kournikova jumped to an early 5-2 lead before faltering on a string of unforced errors and allowing Dittmann to claw back to 5-4 before victory was sealed.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Women’s singles:

First round: 3-Clarisa Fernadez (Argentina) beat Janet Lee (Taiwan) 6-3, 6-4; 8-Silvija Talaja (Croatia) beat Jie Hao (China) 6-0, 6-1; Yoon Jeong Cho (South Korea) beat Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5; 4-Anna Kournikova (Russia) beat Mireille Dittmann (Australia) 6-1, 6-4; Petra Mandula (Hungary) beat Alicia Molik (Australia) 7-5, 6-1; Ayami Takase (Japan) beat Mi Ra Jeon (South Korea) 6-4, 7-5.—Reuters