Tennis: Four seeds fall in day of upsets

Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in action during her singles tennis match against Dinara Safina of Russia on day two of the ASB Classic in Auckland. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova was the biggest casualty today during a string of upsets at the ASB Classic tennis tournament.

The third seed and two-time Grand Slam winner was beaten by China's Shuai Peng 2-6 6-4 6-4 to be one of four seeds to fall in the second round.

Earlier, compatriot Elena Vesnina, the No 7 seed and runner-up two years ago, retired with dizziness while trailing Romania's Simona Halep 2-6 6-4 4-0.

There were defeats as well for Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson and Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.

Arvidsson fell 4-6 7-5 7-5 to Hungarian Greta Arn, whose reward is a quarterfinal clash with tournament favourite Maria Sharapova tomorrow.

Suarez Navarro was tripped up 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 by teenage British qualifier Heather Watson, who will make her first appearance in the last eight of a WTA Tour event when she meets Peng.

With Japan's Kimiko Date-Drumm having departed on the first day, just three seeds remain - the top two of Sharapova and defending champion Yanina Wickmayer, and No 4 seed Julia Goerges of Germany.

On another hot Auckland day, Kuznetsova blamed herself rather than the windy conditions for her defeat, saying she failed to take the opportunities that came her way.

``I was leading all the time, but when you don't take chances, the opponent will take them,'' the world No 27 said.

``She played great today but I had so many possibilities.''

Kuznetsova said the reason for her inability to close out the contest could have been her lack of recent match play.

Peng, who turns 25 on Saturday, admitted to nerves at the start of the match.

``I just tried to fight,'' she said.

``Even in the third set, when I was down 0-3, I tried not to lose too fast, to try to win more points.

At 5-4, I tried to take my chances.''

It's not the first time Peng has claimed a high-profile scalp.

She has also beaten the likes of Sharapova, Belgium's Kim Clijsters and Serb Jelena Jankovic, all of whom have held the world No 1 ranking.

Sharapova's encounter with Czech Renata Voracova was a seesawing affair, with the top seeded Russian having to come from behind in both sets.

Afterwards, she labelled her performance as ``a little sloppy''.

``It was certainly up and down,'' she said.

``I started a little bit slow and she had opportunities to go 4-1 first set. I was lucky I just hung in there and started playing a little better, more solid.''

Voracova also had a good chance of taking the second set, going up 5-3 and 30-0 on serve, but couldn't hold.

Wickmayer, who didn't lose a set in claiming the title last year, dropped her second of the week in beating German qualifier Sabine Lisicki 6-2 3-6 6-2.

Lisicki, a former world No 22 looking to work her way back up the rankings after an injury hit 2010, tested her Belgian opponent.

But she was let down by one of her strengths, her booming serve, which was often off target, and by unforced errors.

- NZPA