Sania Mirza Stuns Hingis in LA

LOS ANGELES, CA, USA - It was a mixed day for the seeds at the East West Bank Classic presented by Herbalife on Tuesday, with all three of the Top 8 in action at the $600,000 event falling in the second round.

Most notable were the losses of No.6 seed Marion Bartoli and No.7 seed Martina Hingis, who have both been struggling of late to regain their Top 20 form. Bartoli's slump has been more recent, going 1-3 since her surprise run to the Wimbledon final, where she defeated two of the world's Top 3, No.3 Jelena Jankovic and No.1 Justine Henin. On Tuesday she fell to a resurgent Maria Kirilenko - a quarterfinalist last week in San Diego - to the tune of 76(2) 63.

Hingis, whose season has been marred by back and hip injuries, fought back admirably after a slow start but was unable to stop the Sania Mirza juggernaut. Mirza, who on Monday became the first Indian woman ever to rank in the world's Top 30, has had an outstanding US summer, reaching the Stanford final, Cincinnati semis and San Diego quarters. On Tuesday she finished strongly against the former world No.1, winning 62 26 64 for her fifth Top 20 win in the past three weeks in California.

"You're playing Hingis you can't expect to roll through the third set," said Mirza, now 2-2 against the Swiss star. "I believed when I stepped on the court tonight that I could win."

"My health has been difficult as it has not been that long since Wimbledon," said Hingis, playing on her third event since May. "The hard court season will do it to you so you have to watch out. You don’t want to overdo it but you have to have matches but balancing your health at the same time."

Mirza, who underwent knee surgery in March, fell as low as No.70 in September last year after a breakthrough season in 2005, when she soared to No.31 and became a megastar in her home country. But the 20-year-old says she is now benefitting from greater maturity and experience.

"Today I feel like a more complete player. My forehand, my backhand and even my serve is better. These are the things I've been working on the past few years."

The other seed to fall on Tuesday was No.8 Dinara Safina, beaten 62 75 by Kateryna Bondarenko, her first loss to the Ukrainian in four meetings.

"I just decided to stop being nervous because all the times that I played against her I was really really nervous," admitted Bondarenko. "Today I was like 'If I win, I win. If I lose, it's going to be fourth time.'"

The other second-round winners on Tuesday were Gisela Dulko and Michaella Krajicek.

The lower seeds fared much better in their first-round matches, with No.9 Elena Dementieva kicking off her title defense with an impressive 63 61 win over qualifier and fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova. No.10 seed Shahar Peer defeated Slovakian wildcard Dominika Cibulkova, 62 63, and will meet Mirza, her doubles partner, should she win her second-round encounter with France's Virginie Razzano.

No.15 seed Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia overcame a fast-finishing American lucky loser Bethanie Mattek, 64 75, and will meet Mara Santangelo in the second round after the Italian defeated Russian Anastasia Rodionova.

Completing the second-round line-up were Ai Sugiyama, Victoria Azarenka, Peng Shuai, Meghann Shaughnessy, Eleni Daniilidou and Lilia Osterloh.

Just two doubles matches were contested on Tuesday, with No.2 seeds Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs defeating the pairing of Top 10 singles stars Jelena Jankovic and Nadia Petrova, 64 64. The all-American duo of Jill Craybas and Laura Granville also enjoyed a straight-sets win, defeating the Bondarenko sisters - Alona and Kateryna - by a 63 63 scoreline. (WTA)