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American Perry Upsets Hantuchova at WTA Stanford
Posted on July 26, 2006
STANFORD, CA, USA -- Only two seeds were in singles action at the Bank of the West Classic on Tuesday, and those women just happened to be doubles partners.
Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama, runners-up at Roland Garros, were hoping to put their upset loss in the doubles first round on Monday behind them (despite being the $600,000 event's top seeds). In the end, No.6-seeded Sugiyama advanced to the singles second round, while Hantuchova, the No.5 seed, suffered her second defeat of the week.
Sugiyama defeated Czech power-hitter Kveta Peschke, 63 64, while Hantuchova fell to American qualifier Shenay Perry, 62 06 63.
Sugiyama reached the final of the Bank of the West Classic when this event was held in Oakland, California way back in 1995. The 31-year-old veteran, who is just four days older than Peschke, has enjoyed a string of good results in the Californian hardcourt events over her career. The Japanese star has beaten the likes of Capriati, Graf, Pierce, Clijsters and Kuznetsova in this stretch of the season, and she'll be looking to maintain that strong record when she meets French teen Tatiana Golovin on Wednesday.
Perry, who turned 22-years-old earlier this month, was the lone American to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon. Tuesday's win over Hantuchova was the third Top 20 victory of her career and set up a second-round showdown with Jill Craybas; the winner of that match will be the last surviving American in this Tier II event, following the opening-round losses of Lilia Osterloh, Amber Liu and Chanda Rubin.
Among the other winners Tuesday were doubles world No.1 Samantha Stosur; the Australian defeated Ukrainian qualifier Olga Savchuk, 61 63.
"The key was to get off to a good start and serve well, so when I was up 5-0 in the first, that was a big help," said Stosur, 22. "I was playing to my own tempo and dictating the match."
Stosur, the reigning US Open and Roland Garros champion in doubles with American Lisa Raymond, now plays No.7-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer for a place in the quarterfinals.
"I played Peer in the final of Prague and she beat me in three (sets)," added Stosur. "But now, I know how she plays and I think we match up well on the hard courts. I'll have to serve well and be ready to compete because she's a fighter. I'll try to jump on her serve and put a lot of pressure on her."
As previously mentioned, Lilia Osterloh, a wildcard entrant in this event, was a first-round casualty, falling to former Top 20 player Jelena Jankovic, 75 63.
It was a good day for the qualifiers, as 18-year-old Russian Vasilisa Bardina joined Perry in the second round with an upset victory over Indian sensation Sania Mirza, 63 62.
There was an another shock loss in the first round of the doubles event, with No.2 seeds Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik falling to Marion Bartoli and Marta Domachowska, 75 75. Following the demise of top seeds Hantuchova and Sugiyama on Monday, that leaves No.3 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Peer, and No.4 seeds Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko, as the highest seeded teams left in the tournament. Both duos recorded wins on Tuesday.
Day 3 of the Bank of the West Classic sees the first appearances of No.1 seed Kim Clijsters, the defending champion, and No.3 seed Nicole Vaidisova, the recent Roland Garros semifinalist. Clijsters takes on Jankovic while Vaidisova meets Austrian lefty Sybille Bammer.
-- WTA
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