Tokyo, Japan (TSN) – Top-five seeds Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Steffi Graf were among Wednesday’s winners at the $1.05 million Pan Pacific Open.
The second-seeded Hingis, fresh off her third straight Australian Open title, needed all three sets to get past Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, 3- 6, 6-1, 6-2. The second-round win placed Hingis, the 1998 Pan Pacific runner-up to Lindsay Davenport, in this year’s quarterfinals.
Fourth-seeded Monica Seles, who lost to Hingis in last week’s Aussie Open semifinals, also landed in the quarters with a 6-1, 6-3 pasting of Sarah Pitkowski.
Graf, the fifth seed in Tokyo, played a first-round match and moved on with a 6-0, 6-1 dismantling of American Samantha Reeves.
Wednesday’s other first-round winners were Mariaan de Swardt, Elena Likhovtseva and American Mary Joe Fernandez, who easily handled 1997 French Open champion Iva Majoli, 6-1, 6-2.