Kournikova Appearance Is Kept Short by Huber

If only Anna Kournikova’s opponents were as easy to swat away as Jay Leno.

Life on the court was considerably more difficult than her appearance last week on “The Tonight Show,” in which Kournikova dispatched Leno with ease, leaving him exposed as a tennis neophyte.

Tuesday night, Kournikova was the one left stranded, helpless under the barrage of Anke Huber’s powerful ground strokes in a first-round match. Huber dealt the 16-year-old the worst defeat of her young career, winning, 6-0, 6-1, in 41 minutes at the Acura Classic in Manhattan Beach.

The celebrity-studded crowd--featuring the likes of Wayne and Janet Gretzky, Kobe Bryant, Rob Blake and Kournikova’s close friend, Sergei Fedorov--came to Manhattan Country Club looking for a closer match.

Huber lost to Kournikova in three sets in the third round at Wimbledon and gave the British tabloids another week to run provocative pictures and speculate about Kournikova’s relationship with the Red Wings’ star, Fedorov.

But her exit this time was unmercifully swift. The 11th-ranked Huber lost only four points in the first set, and Kournikova was able to secure only one point on her own serve in the opening set.

Kournikova, ranked 26th, prevented the shutout when she held service in the second game of the second set, winning it when Huber hit a backhand long.

“I’m a little bit surprised it was so easy,” Huber said. “It was as close to a perfect match as I’ve played. I stayed aggressive, didn’t miss many easy balls and served so well.”

Huber was especially elated that she didn’t double-fault once. She recently tinkered with her service motion and struggled with it a bit last week in San Diego, losing to Yayuk Basuki in the second round.

A finalist here last year, Huber will next play Venus Williams, who defeated qualifier Ann Grossman, 6-0, 6-3, in the match following Huber-Kournikova.

In Huber’s favor was a subpar performance from Kournikova, who appeared to be somewhat rusty, this being her first tour event since Wimbledon. WTA rules limit Kournikova to 13 tournaments, and Manhattan Beach was her eighth event in 1997. She will be able to play a full schedule, starting in June 1998.

“Anke played very well, I didn’t get into the match,” Kournikova said. “She played unbelievable. I think she was ready for it because I beat her at Wimbledon.

“I didn’t play well. I want to play more tournaments. I want to play more matches. It’s hard for me to play one match a month.”

In other matches, among those also advancing were fifth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Kimberly Po, Anne-Gaelle Sidot, Amy Frazier and Ruxandra Dragomir. The lone seeded player to lose Tuesday was No. 7 Irina Spirlea. Natasha Zvereva defeated Spirlea, 6-4, 6-3, in a first-round match.