Held together by sticky tape and a fierce will to win, top seed Monica Seles [ Images ] grunted and grimaced her way to a 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Ai Sugiyama [ Images ] at the Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.

The former world number one, who sprained her left ankle during her second-round defeat to little-known Czech Klara Koukalova at the Australian Open [ Images ], squandered four match-points with Sugiyama serving at 4-5 in the second set.

But Seles, her movement clearly restricted after her Melbourne [ Images ] mishap, dipped into her vast reserves of experience in the final set and broke twice before sealing victory on her sixth match point when Sugiyama swatted a forehand return wide.

"Every once in a while I feel pain and obviously I'm not as ready as I would have wanted," said the 29-year-old Seles, a winner of nine Grand Slam singles titles.

"It's been a tough two weeks after the Australian Open. After not practising much, I was not that comfortable with my game. I just tried to hang in and fight for every point."

After receiving a bye in the first round, the Croatian-born American next plays the winner of the all-Russian clash between Lina Krasnoroutskaya and Elena Bovina, who beat Israeli seventh seed Anna Pistolesi 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Organisers of the $1.3 million event are hoping that Seles does not suffer any relapse this week after Martina Hingis [ Images ], Jennifer Capriati [ Images ] and Anna Kournikova [ Images ] all pulled out with injuries before the start of the tournament.

SLOVENIAN DRUBBING

Meanwhile, fourth seed Chanda Rubin opened with a 6-4, 6-0 drubbing of Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik in her first match in Tokyo since 2000.

Former champion Iva Majoli, a first-round loser in Melbourne, quickly got her game back on track with a convincing 6-3, 6-3 victory over American Alexandra Stevenson, who never looked comfortable on the fast indoor carpet.

The Croatian, who won here in 1996, the year before she captured the French Open [ Images ] title, will play third seed Lindsay Davenport [ Images ] in the second round on Thursday.

The American, chasing a third Pan Pacific crown, also received a bye in the first round.

In other matches, fifth-seeded Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva eased past Japanese wildcard Saori Obata 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with doubles specialist Lisa Raymond [ Images ], who struggled to beat Argentine Paola Suarez 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

"I felt like I was moving well. I felt like I played better than her when it mattered most," said Maleeva.

"I will be fresher than Lisa in the next match, so I feel pretty confident."

Earlier, Indonesian Angelique Widjaja defeated wildcard Jeon Mi-ra of South Korea 6-3, 6-3 in an all-Asian clash.