Sixth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova was upset 2-6, 4-6 by Olga Govortsova at the East West Bank Classic in Carson, California, on Tuesday night, making an unexpectedly early second-round exit just hours after Serena Williams withdrew.
Williams, seeded No. 2, pulled out with a left knee injury.
Govortsova, 19, of Belarus, wasted three match points on her serve in the ninth game of the second set, then capitalized on her fourth with a forehand to the open court at 30-40 on Hantuchova's serve.
Govortsova, who is ranked No. 43, admitted to some nerves after taking a 5-1 lead in the second set, especially since the 12th-ranked Slovak had rallied in a similar situation to win their first meeting last year.
"When I was up 5-1 I started to think I'm going to win the match, then she started to play more aggressive," Govortsova said. "Then at 5-4 I started to hit the ball again and finally won. She hits the ball really deep and has a good serve. To beat her, you have to be aggressive."
Third-seeded Anna Chakvetadze of Russia had no trouble in her second-round match, toppling Marta Domachowska of Poland, 6-1, 6-1, in 49 minutes.
Earlier in the day, before Stephanie Dubois of Canada closed out the first round by beating Playboy magazine cover girl Ashley Harkleroad, 6-2, 6-3, Wimbledon quarterfinalist Nadia Petrova moved into the second round with her first hardcourt win since January, a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Russian Alina Jidkova.
She was joined in the second round by No. 10 Flavia Pennetta of Italy, No. 11 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic and No. 15 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
Williams had withdrawn on Saturday at Stanford, but expressed a desire to play at the Home Depot Center over the advice of medical personnel and her father. But she said that after warming up on Tuesday morning she knew she could not compete and joined sister Venus, Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova on the sidelines.
In Toronto, world No. 3 Novak Djokovic opened the defense of his Rogers Cup title in impressive style with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Canadian Frank Dancevic on Tuesday.
The Australian Open champion was joined in the third round by sixth seeded American Andy Roddick, who launched his hardcourt campaign earlier in the day with a battling 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-3 win over Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.
Djokovic, who has already won two Masters titles this year, is trying to become the first repeat winner in Canada since Andre Agassi in 1994-95.
World No. 1 Roger Federer and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal received first-round byes at the US$2.6 million event.
Frenchman Gilles Simon, who won in Indianapolis on Sunday, crushed 18-year-old American qualifier Donald Young 6-1, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Federer, a two-time champion on the Canadian hardcourts.
Nadal will meet Jesse Levine after the American qualifier beat Canadian wildcard Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-4.
Czech 16th seed Tomas Berdych cruised into the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily July 24, 2008)