The 19-year-old World No 1 squandered a 5-2 lead and two set points, before taking the opening set in an hour. Hingis then broke Panova twice in the second set, but still needed four match points to complete her victory.

Hingis was joined in the last eight by seventh-seeded Dominique Van Roost (Belgium) who beat Silvia Farina (Italy) 6-2, 6-2.

Results (first round): Anke Huber (Ger) bt Natasha Zvereva (Belarus) 6-2, 6-2, 8-Nathalie Tauziat (Fra) bt Sandrine Testud (Fra) 7-5, 6-3.

Philippoussis up

SINGAPORE: Second-seeded Mark Philippoussis (Australia) gave his knee a workout as he cruised through his first round match in the $725,000 Singapore Open Tennis event.

Philippoussis, ranked 21 in the world, carved out a 6-4, 6-4 win against American qualifier Bob Bryan.

Other results (1st round):4-Jan-Michael Gambill (US) bt Justin Gimelstob (US) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-Andrew Ilie (Aust) bt Ramon Delgado (Para) 6-2, 6-2, 8-Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) bt Richard Fromberg (Aust) 7-5, 6-2, Mikael Tillstrom (Swe) bt Byron Black (Zim) 6-3, 6-4.

Martin beaten

VIENNA: Playing his first match since the US Open final, Todd Martin became the first seeded player to be eliminated from the Ca Trophy Tennis Tournament.

Martin, seeded second and ranked fourth in the world, dropped a 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-5), 4-6 decision yesterday to Czech Jiri Novak.

Other results: Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) bt Marc Rosset (Swis) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) 6-3, 6-4, Goran Ivanisevic (Croa) bt 3-Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4.