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Top-seed Ivanovic crashes out
14/05/2008 17:18 - (SA)
Rome - Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic was upset by Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4 5-7 6-2 on Wednesday in the second round of the Italian Open.
Ivanovic struggled with her consistency and serving and never seemed comfortable on the red clay at the Foro Italico. She committed 59 unforced errors to Pironkova's 26.
Ivanovic picked up the top seed in this clay-court warmup for the French Open when top-ranked Justine Henin withdrew citing fatigue. Henin has held a press conference to announce her retirement from the game.
Ivanovic missed this tournament the last two years due to injuries. At the German Open last week, Ivanovic lost to Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals.
The 64th-ranked Pironkova also beat Venus Williams at the 2006 Australian Open.
Williams was also in action on Wednesday, overcoming an early challenge from Samantha Stosur before beating the Australian player 6-4, 6-1.
Playing her first WTA-level tournament after a long illness layoff, Stosur broke Williams' serve in the opening game of the match.
Eliminated
After getting a read on Stosur's serve, Williams broke back to get to 4-4 in the first set, then cruised through the second.
Williams won this tournament in 1999 and was the runner-up in 1998. Her best result since then was a semi-final appearance two years ago.
In first-round play, Maria Kirilenko rallied to beat 18th-seeded Nadia Petrova 3-6 7-5 6-4 in a match that began on Tuesday but was stopped due to rain with Kirilenko ahead 2-1 in the third set.
The 26th-ranked Kirilenko won the first clay-court title of her career at the Estoril Open last month.
In another match that began Tuesday, Ekaterina Makarova upset 13th-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-4 4-6 6-2.
Also, ninth-seeded Patty Schnyder eliminated Ukrainian qualifier Mariya Koryttseva 3-6 6-2 6-3 and Flavia Pennetta ousted lucky loser Olga Savchuk 6-7 (9) 6-3 6-1.
In other second-round action, No 12 Agnieszka Radwanska rallied past Italian wild card Roberta Vinci 3-6 6-2 6-2.
Later, second-seeded Maria Sharapova faced Dominika Cibulkova and defending champion Jelena Jankovic was up against Pennetta in the Italian's second match of the day.
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