Safina Folds, Ivanovic, IW Winner Zvonareva All Exit Miami

The Serbian top tier exited the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami over the weekend, with Jelena Jankovic losing Saturday, followed by Ana Ivanovic on Sunday.
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The No. 7-seeded Ivanovic, like Jankovic going through a crisis of confidence, lost to No. 25 seed Agnes Szavay 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

No one seems ready, or willing, to challenge Serena Williams for the top spot on the WTA Tour Rankings.

World No. 2 Dinara Safina had a chance to take the top spot for the first time two weeks ago in Indian Wells, but choked her way to the exit. Yesterday the Russian slumped out of Miami, thoroughly dominated by Aussie Sam Stosur 6-1, 6-4.

“It’s very disappointing. This is what I’m playing for, to be there and to play well. Suddenly I go on the court and I don’t even fight for it until the second set,” Safina said. “It was bad behavior from my side. The champions, they don’t do this. This is a good punishment for me. I have to get smarter on the court.”

Stosur, better known for her doubles play, also has career Top 10 wins over Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo.

“Against someone like Dinara, you have to be aware they’re capable of coming back,” Stosur said. “It’s certainly never over. So I’m really happy with how I stayed in it mentally and kept my foot down right from the first point to the last point.”

Other seeded victims were No. 6 seed Vera Zvonareva, losing to Li Na 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; and No. 9 Nadia Petrova, losing to Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1.

Among those moving into the fourth round were No. 1 seed Serena Williams, No. 4 Elena Dementieva, No. 5 Venus Williams, No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, No. 10 Agnieszka Radwanska, and No. 11 Victoria Azarenka all winning their third round matches.