Kuzy Wins, Clijsters Out, Hingis On Tonight at WTA Montreal

MONTREAL, Canada -- Several major upsets highlighted the third day of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, as second round action continued on the hardcourts of Uniprix Stadium.

Five Top 10 seeds, including top seed Kim Clijsters and No.3 Nadia Petrova, were eliminated Wednesday from the Tier I event. No.6 Anastasia Myskina, No.8 Francesca Schiavone, No.10 Anna-Lena Groenefeld and No.12 Flavia Pennetta were also sent packing. No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No.9 Dinara Safina, however, won their second round matches in straight sets.

Kuznetsova made a successful return to Sony Ericsson WTA Tour competition, by defeating Marta Domachowska, 61 63. After her third round exit at Wimbledon, the 21-year-old Russian withdrew from San Diego and Los Angeles due to a left abdominal muscle strain. In her first match in about two months, Kuznetsova didn't seem bothered by sore muscles, as she hammered four aces and didn't allow her opponent a single chance to break. Kuznetsova's next opponent will be Ai Sugiyama.

"It was a pretty good match, especially the first set," Kuznetsova said. "Of course, I'm kind of a perfectionist. I'm trying all the time to make it more perfect today. My serve helped me out in the second set a lot. I missed a couple of forehands, so I'll make sure it won't happen next match, hopefully."

Defending champion Clijsters led Canadian wild card Stephanie Dubois 61 but trailed 3-2 in the second set before a left wrist sprain forced her to retire. Clijsters, who had her wrist taped earlier in the match, fell on it and aggravated it even more.

"Halfway through the first set I just started feeling my backhand, I couldn't get down with my racquet," Clijsters said. "I couldn't produce the spin that I normally do. It was fine because she's not a hard hitter, it didn't have that big of an impact. But then I started slicing and just trying to protect, it kind of got worse and just stiffened up and then I called the trainer out. Obviously with the history that I have with my wrist, it's something that really worries me. These next few weeks are really important for me. Falling on it definitely didn't help, either. I'm going to have some more tests done tomorrow, too, and I'll get to know more."

Clijsters has suffered from left wrist injuries in the past. In 2004, she underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon and remove a cyst, which forced her to miss most of the second half of the year. But she managed a terrific comeback in 2005 by winning a Tour-leading nine titles, including her first Grand Slam, the US Open.

Dubois became the first Quebecer in history to get to the third round of the Rogers Cup. She will play No.14 seed Katarina Srebotnik on Thursday. Her countrywoman, Marie-Eve Pelletier, almost joined Dubois in the third round but let a 4-2 third set lead slip away to lose, 36 64 64, to Nicole Pratt.

In a match marred by dozens of unforced errors, Petrova lost to countrywoman Anna Chakvetadze for the second time in two weeks. Petrova is on a four-match losing streak and her last Tour singles win was three months ago at Berlin. After dropping the first set 61, Petrova jumped to a 3-1 lead in the second but couldn't capitalize on the break and won only one more game. After hitting a down-the-line forehand wide, she lost 61 64, in just over an hour. Chakvetadze, who also beat Petrova two weeks ago at San Diego, will next face Nathalie Dechy.

"I try to stay positive even though it takes a lot of energy and it takes lots of motivation," said Petrova. "It can be frustrating. But a lot of things happening in life are much worse than just losing a tennis match. It's really hard for me to hold my concentration from the beginning to the end. I started making some unforced errors, which is very unusual for me and I'm getting quite disappointed about it. I started thinking 'what's happening' and that takes so much energy away from me and also it takes my focus from the match."

Myskina lost a tough 76(6) 57 64 battle to rising Israeli star Shahar Peer. The Russian reached the Stockholm final last week but has not won a match on American summer hardcourts yet. In Cincinnati, she was ousted by Serena Williams in straight sets. Peer will next play Marion Bartoli, who advanced when No.12 seed Flavia Pennetta retired with left wrist inflammation.

Other Wednesday winners were No.11 Daniela Hantuchova, No.13 Ana Ivanovic, Srebotnik, Jelena Jankovic, Dechy and Sugiyama.

On Thursday, No.5 Nicole Vaidisvoa will play Pratt before two-time champion Martina Hingis takes on Hantuchova in the night session.
-- WTA