The World Cup has been full of surprises and some big names could also fall in the Britannic Asset Management Championships at Eastbourne.

Anna Kournikova and Mary Pierce face tricky tests in the first round of the warm-up for Wimbledon at Devonshire Park.

The glamour girls had to rely on wild cards to get into the main draw and they will want to avoid a repeat of the early exits made by their respective countries, Russia and France, in Japan and Korea.

In the case of Kournikova that means getting past Italian Rita Grande, rated 18 places above her.

The 27-year-old from Napoli was a junior finalist at Wimbledon nine years ago and won two events on the women's tour last year, which is two more than Kournikova has managed in a career dominated so far by appearance rather than achievement.

Beyond that American fifth seed Meghann Shaughnessy and top seed Jelena Dokic block Kournikova's path to a third semi-final place at Eastbourne.

It's a tough assignment, especially as Kournikova is still feeling her way back from the stress fracture of the left foot which sidelined her from last year's event.

Pierce has been plagued by injuries since winning the French Open two years ago, when she was ranked third in the world.

Further pain could be inflicted by the best player from the nation so successfully co-hosting the football extravaganza in the Far East on and of the pitch.

Japan's Ai Sugiyama is the world No. 30 and formerly the top doubles player on the planet.

The tigress from Tokyo, 27 next month, triumphed in the Eastbourne doubles with Nathalie Tauziat two years ago.

Pierce will be hoping to emulate Chanda Rubin, who knocked out Sugiyama in the opening round 12 months ago on her way to the semi-finals.

Rubin will be hard pressed to stage a repeat. Her opponent is Tanasugarn Tamarine, the eighth seed from Thailand.

Spain's Magui Serna, runner-up to Lindsay Davenport last year, faces one of the four qualifiers.

Dokic and the other leading seeds, Sandrine Testud, Daniela Hantuchova and Elia Farina, have byes into round two.