Ivanovic, Chakvetadze Removed from Rogers

TORONTO, Canada - The draw for this year's Rogers Cup presented by American Express was blown wide open on Wednesday as three of the tournament's Top 8 seeds, including reigning champion Ana Ivanovic, were sent tumbling out of the draw in Canada. Anna Chakvetadze and Elena Dementieva were two other marquee names to make premature exits, while the Top 2 seeds, Justine Henin and Jelena Jankovic, made flawless starts to their campaigns at the $1,340,000, Tier I event.

Ivanovic has been in sparkling form so far this year and after capturing the title last week in Los Angeles, her defeat to Chinese qualifier Yan Zi comes as a real shock. The victory in California was her second tournament triumph of 2007 - she also won the Tier I title in Berlin - and these successes, complemented with semifinal finishes at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, have seen the young Serb soar to a career-high ranking of No.4. However, the 19-year-old could find no answer to Yan's unerringly consistent groundstrokes on Stadium Court, slumping to a shock 63 61 defeat in little more than an hour.

"She played extremely well today," Ivanovic said, "from first point on she was so aggressive and dominating. I found it hard to adjust because the court is much faster than in Los Angeles and it was also windy out there. I needed some time to find my rhythm and get into the match, but she never gave me that."

Yan, the world No.169, was rewarded for her maiden Top 10 victory with a clash against Eleni Daniilidou in the round of 16. Like Yan, the Greek No.1 will be appearing at this stage of the Rogers Cup for the first time in her career and achieved the feat by virtue of a hard-fought, 76(5) 46 75, win over Italian qualifier Maria Elena Camerin.

The two players who had been hotly tipped to provide the biggest challenge to Ivanovic's reign as champion were compatriot and No.2 seed Jankovic and No.1 Henin, and both players looked in tremendous form as they brushed aside their second round opponents in style.

Belgium's world No.1, Henin, was making her first appearance of this summer's North American hardcourt swing at the Rexall Centre and despite having been out of competitive action for more than a month proved far too much for Slovenian qualifier Andreja Klepac, winning 63 61.

"It's my first tournament after Wimbledon," Henin said, "so it takes a while to get your timing. She was hitting the ball very hard and I was hitting too short at the start, I wasn't aggressive, but I stayed focused and kept working hard on every point and finally won in two sets."

Serbian star Jankovic was even more impressive, crushing the hopes of Canadian wildcard entrant Marie-Ève Pelletier, 60 61, in less than an hour.

The other Top 8 seeds to fall by the wayside were Russian duo and former Rogers Cup semifinalists, Anna Chakvetadze and Elena Dementieva. No.5 seed, Chakvetadze, has been one of the standout performers on the hardcourts this summer, coming into this weeks tournament with a 12-1 record after capturing the titles in Cincinnati and Stanford and reaching the semifinals in San Diego. However, the 20-year-old Muscovite has been fighting a cold all week and despite a valiant attempt in the first set, she was clearly struggling against France's Virginie Razzano and at 76(5) 20 down she decided to retire.

Former US Open runner-up Dementieva is the No.8 seed in Toronto and therefore her three-set defeat to Francesca Schiavone comes as quite a shock. The Italian No.2 gave a tenacious display and after dropping a tight first set she rallied well to secure a place in the round of 16 with a 67(5) 63 62 win. Meeting her there will be No.12 seed Tatiana Golovin, who defeated Slovakian qualifier Dominika Cibulkova, 64 63, to win her 29th match of the season.

Golovin's fellow Frenchwoman and No.7 seed, Marion Bartoli also secured a third round berth on Wednesday when her opponent, Maria Kirilenko of Russia, was forced to retire when trailing 62 21 because of a left tendon irritation. Standing in-between Bartoli and a seventh quarterfinal appearance of the season will be No.9 seed Dinara Safina, who brushed aside the challenge of Nathalie Dechy, 61 62, to increase the number of Russians in the round of 16 to three.

Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova are the other two players flying the flag and the latter overcame an early setback to defeat Canadian wildcard Stéphanie Dubois, 67(4) 62 61. Next up for the No.6 seed will be No.10 seed Patty Schnyder from Switzerland, who earlier in the day recorded a comfortable 63 62 win over Italian qualifier Flavia Pennetta.

Day 3's other winners were No.13 seed Sybille Bammer from Austria and America's Meghann Shaughnessy. Bammer was the third seed to conquer a Canadian wildcard, defeating Aleksandra Wozniak, 64 62, while Shaughnessy upset the No.16 seed Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, 36 64 75.

There was also plenty of action in the doubles competition on Wednesday and all of the Top 4 seeds made it through to the quarterfinals. No.1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber have enjoyed a magnificent year on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but they were on the verge of making a shock exit in their opening match, before digging deep to see off Tathiana Garbin and Shahar Peer, 63 46 108.

Elsewhere No.2 seeds Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama and No.4 Dechy and Sun Tiantian saw off their second round opponents in straight sets, while No.3 Alicia Molik and Mara Santangelo profited from the withdrawal of Dementieva and Pennetta as the Russian was suffering from a right hamstring strain from her singles exertions. (WTA)