Davenport Struggles; Vaidisova, Kirilenko Lose at Beijing

Anna Chakvetadze pushed former world No.1 Lindsay Davenport to the very limit while Maria Kirilenko surrendered her title to Chinese wildcard Peng Shuai. Joining them in a teenagers' exodus Wednesday was Czech phenom Nicole Vaidisova, who bowed out against Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama.

In a see-sawing battle, Chakvetadze broke Davenport's serve seven times, although she dropped her own delivery on six occasions. With the duo's match stats virtually identical across the board, the Moscow native's 13 double faults proved costly. In the end, Davenport, making her Beijing debut and a semifinalist in Bali last week, won a single point more than Chakvetadze over the entire match - 120 to 119 - scraping into the second round with a 76(4) 36 75 win.

"I'm happy to have gotten through," said Davenport, who takes on China's Zheng Jie for a spot in the quarterfinals. "It was a difficult match and a close one as well. My opponent played really well; I'm happy to play again tomorrow."

On playing Zheng on Thursday: "Zheng is a good player, and a top player in China. Hopefully, I can play better tomorrow, and I hope it will be a great match."

Earlier, local wildcard Peng Shuai thrilled her home crowd with a 57 64 62 win over No.8-seeded defending champion Maria Kirilenko. Peng, a quarterfinalist here last year, assured herself of at least the same result in 2006, coming from behind to score her third Top 30 victory of the season.

"I was able to fight thanks to the home crowd," said Peng, who meets Sugiyama in the quarterfinals. "Even after I lost the first set, I still had the support. I never gave up."

Kirilenko, who notched her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title here last year, was naturally disappointed to fall so early in her title defense.

"My first two sets were not bad, and I did take some chances," said Kirilenko. "It became hard for me in the third set; my opponent played really well, and I made some mistakes as well."

Seventeen-year-old Vaidisova, the No.4 seed and recipient of a first-round bye, stumbled in her China Open debut, falling to 31-year-old Sugiyama, 64 16 63. Vaidisova, a semifinalist at Roland Garros and winner of the Strasbourg title in May, has failed to reach the quarterfinals in three events since debuting in the Top 10 on August 7.

No.2 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, fresh from a third victory at the Wismilak International in Bali on Sunday, extended her win streak to five matches with an easier-than-expected victory over Jelena Kostanic.

World No.5 Kuznetsova, the 2004 China Open runner-up, completed just three games and 22 minutes of her match when the Croatian left-hander retired with a right thigh strain. Kostanic injured her leg in the first game of the match, and while she battled on for a couple of games it quickly became apparent she wouldn't be able to finish the match.

In the quarterfinals, Kuznetsova could face Chinese No.7 seed Li Na, who burst to prominence at this event two years ago with a stirring performance against none other than Kuznetsova.

In the second round here in 2004, Li, then-ranked No.193, saved three match points in the second set against the Russian, who had just won the US Open. In the third set, Li held two match points of her own before falling 63 67(6) 76(3). The following week, Li became China's first-ever Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles champion, claiming the Guangzhou title. Li meets Russian rising star Elena Vesnina in second-round action on Thursday.

In the only other singles match contested on Wednesday, Bali runner-up Marion Bartoli continued her good form with a routine 63 63 win over Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.

The doubles event was not immune to the upsets that plagued the singles draw on Day 3, with top seeds and local stars Yan Zi and Zheng Jie tumbling out in the first round.

While it was a bad day for Yan and Zheng, Peng's good day became even better when she teamed with Russian Vera Zvonareva to oust the reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champions, 46 63 63.
-- WTA