Safina, Ivanovic crash out; Williams sisters through

Dinara Safina looked like she would go far in Miami, but that was proven wrong, after she crashed out of the Sony Ericsson Open, losing to an Australian in straight sets. The same thing happened to Ana Ivanovic, who was also ousted, in three sets.

No. 2 seed Safina was sent flying home after Samantha Stosur was sent to the next round, as she won 61 64.

"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 behaviour 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."

No. 7 seed Ivanovic lost to Agnes Szavay, 64 46 61.

"I'm really disappointed with today's match. I hardly did anything well. The way I started the match, I felt like I had so many chances early on, and I was missing by a little bit and got really down on myself."

There were still some good results from the top seeds, as top seed Serena Williams won her match to Shuai Peng 75 62; No. 5 seed Venus won her match to Anna-Lena Groenefeld 75 63; No. 4 seed Elena Dementieva won her match to Carla Suarez Navarro, 62 62; and No. 8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova won her match to Nicole Vaidisova, 61 64.

Other top seeded losers of the day were No. 6 seed Vera Zvonareva, who was beaten by Li Na 64 36 62, and No. 9 seed Nadia Petrova, who lost to Ekaterina Makarova, 75 61.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Singles - Third Round

(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. (32) Peng Shuai (CHN) 75 62

Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (2) Dinara Safina (RUS) 61 64

(4) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. (31) Carla Suárez Navarro (ESP) 62 62

(5) Venus Williams (USA) d. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) 75 63

Li Na (CHN) d. (6) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 64 36 62

(25) Agnes Szavay (HUN) d. (7) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 64 46 61

(8) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Nicole Vaidisova (CZE) 61 64

Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. (9) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 75 61

(10) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. (21) Kaia Kanepi (EST) 64 63

(11) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. (22) Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 61 64

(13) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) d. (18) Patty Schnyder (SUI) 64 64

(17) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (14) Alizé Cornet (FRA) 64 60

(20) Amélie Mauresmo (FRA) d. (15) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 67(5) 62 62

(19) Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. (16) Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 76(4) 16 55 ret. (cramping)

(24) Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) d. (Q) Anastasiya Yakimova (BLR) 63 36 64

(26) Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. Gisela Dulko (ARG) 63 62