Two of the top title contenders – No. 2 seed Jelena Jankovic and No. 3 seed Elena Dementieva – suffered surprising exits on Saturday at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, joining No. 6 seed and two-time finalist Svetlana Kuzetnsova as Top 10 players to fall in their second round opening matches. Kuznetsova had lost to Polish qualifier Urszula Radwanska on Friday night.
Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska posted the first big upset Saturday in Indian Wells, ousting 2006 finalist Dementieva of Russia 7-6(2), 2-6, 6-1 in two hours. After dropping her first service game of the second set, Dementieva won the next six games as she managed to get back on level ground with the Czech. She could not hold onto the momentum, however, as she lost all three of her service games in the lopsided decisive set.
"The key I think is that I was still playing and I was still trying to believe that I can do it and to play every point and we'll see what will happen," said Cetkovska. "Every single opportunity I had, even if I could make a mistake, it was to try to be aggressive before her."
Cetkovska, who was making her debut in the Indian Wells main draw after failing to qualify last year, entered the tournament ranked a career-high No. 71. She posted her first Top 10 win over France’s Marion Bartoli last year en route to a quarterfinal finish at the tour-level event in Birmingham.
Dementieva falls to a 20-7 tournament record with her earliest loss at the BNP Paribas Open. She was returning to Indian Wells for the first time since falling to Maria Sharapova in the 2006 final. The 27-year-old had reached the quarterfinals or better in each of her five WTA main draw appearances this season, opening the 2009 season with a 15-match winning streak with titles at Auckland and Sydney and a semifinal run at the Australian Open.
"That probably was the worst match in a long time for me," said Dementieva. "I played a lot of the matches [to start the year]. There's nothing I can do about it. I had a good start. All I need was just to have a good break and start over again."
In the evening session, 17-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earned her first Top 10 victory as she upset 2008 Indian Wells semifinalist Jankovic 6-4, 6-4. The 42nd-ranked Pavlyuchenkova, who hit 31 winners to the Serbian’s 15, said: “I think maybe she doesn't know me that well so she didn't expect the way I was playing since I was quite aggressive since the beginning. After I saw she had some troubles on the service ball, I just tried to push her all the time.”
Defending champion Ana Ivanovic halted the exodus of Top 10 players as she came back from a 0-3 deficit in her opening match to defeat Bulgarian Anastasiya Yakimova 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 24 minutes. The 21 year old, who improves to a 12-2 record in Indian Wells, next faces 31st-seeded Argentina Gisela Dulko, who dismissed American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 6-3.
“I feel very confident because I've been practicing very well,” said Ivanovic. “I feel very fit. That gives you confidence. I just need to play a little bit more matches, and get match confident, because I really haven't played too many matches. That's something I miss, competing all the time and preparing for matches.”
World No. 10 Agnieszka Radwanska and two-time champion Daniela Hantuchova each escaped with three-sets wins Saturday. Radwanska joined little sister Urszula in the third round as she posted a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Australia’s Samantha Stosur, and Hantuchova prevailed in a two hour, 50 minute match against Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(4).
Other seeded winners Saturday included No. 12 Flavia Pennetta, No. 21 Alisa Kleybanova, No. 22 Agnes Szavay, No. 23 Sybille Bammer and No. 25 Aleksandra Wozniak.
Meanwhile, American qualifier Angela Haynes advanced to the third round at Indian Wells for the first time as she ousted No. 20 seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-4, 7-5. In other upsets, German qualifier Kristina Barrois accounted for 11th seed Alize Cornet; Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives defeated No. 14 Dominika Cibulkova and Russian Vera Dushevina eased past No. 15 Zheng Jie.
(From Website : http://www.bnpparibasopen.org/1/news/newsarticle_2572.asp)
