Safina, Venus Williams, Kuznetsova Fall At Pan Pacific; Sharapova Advances

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – A day after top-seeded Dinara Safina and second-seeded Venus Williams were booted out, upsets continued Tuesday resulting in the six top seeds making premature exits at the Pan Pacific Open.

Olympic gold medalist and Russian third-seeded Elena Dementieva fell to Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-1 Tuesday.

Sixth-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia was also shown the door following a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 setback to compatriot Kleybanova.

Another Russian No. 13 seed Nadia Petrova was handed a 6-2, 6-2 defeat by Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova.

While U.S. Open runner-up and fourth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark retired due to a viral illness in her match with Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.

The Danish player was trailing 0-5 in the first set when she retired.

Former top-ranked Russian Maria Sharapova contributed to the upsets Tuesday with a 6-0, 6-1 thumping of 12th seed Australian Sam Stosur.

Other second round winners include former world No. 1 and seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic and No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka.

With the results, Sharapova is currently the only former tournament winner left in the draw.

On Monday, defending champ Safina succumbed to Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-chen, while Venus fell to Russian qualifier Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Andrea Petkovic eliminated No. 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.