Second-seeded Serena Williams withdrew from the WTA hardcourt tournament in Carson, California, on Tuesday with a left knee injury, hoping to be fit in time for the Beijing Olympics.
The world No.5 was the lastest injury casualty for the tournament, which had already lost her elder sister Venus, Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
“It’s a huge disappointment for me to be unable to play the East West Bank Classic in my hometown of LA,” Williams said, who had a first-round bye and was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Melanie South of Britain.
“I’ve been getting intensive therapy and doing everything in my power to get my knee in shape for this week, waiting until the last possible moment to see if I could play,” she said. “Unfortunately after hitting this morning, I knew that wasn’t going to be ready for this week.”
On the court, sixth-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova made an early exit as second-round action got underway on Tuesday.
Hantuchova, trying to regain her form after battling a stress fracture in her foot earlier this year, was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Olga Govortsova of Belarus.
Third-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze, 21, advanced with ease, downing Poland’s Marta Domachowska 6-1, 6-1 in the day’s other second-round encounter.
In first-round action, American Vania King defeated qualifier Angela Haynes 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with top-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic.
Jankovic, the world No.2 who has the No.1 spot of compatriot Ana Ivanovic in her sights, is also recovering from a knee injury — suffered at Wimbledon.
In other matches on Tuesday, last year’s runner-up Nadia Petrova of Russia cruised past compatriot Alina Jidkova 6-0, 6-4.
Petrova, seeded ninth, lost in last year’s final to Ivanovic, who did not return to defend the title.
While Petrova produced a respectable quarter-final effort at Wimbledon, she has yet to show much consistency this season.
She has gone without a WTA singles title since February last year at the Paris indoors.
Flavia Pennetta of Italy cruised past Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-0, bringing the Canadian’s winning streak to an end.
Wozniak emerged from qualifying in Stanford last week and became the first Canadian to win a WTA title in two decades.
Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic also advanced to the second round, beating Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-1.
Stephanie Dubois of Canada closed out the first round by beating Ashley Harkleroad of the US 6-2, 6-3.
■ROGERS CUP
AFP, TORONTO
Defending champion Novak Djokovic broke Canadian hearts with a 6-4, 6-4 second-round win over local Frank Dancevic in Toronto on Tuesday.
The Serbian third seed and the Canadian of Serb heritage fired up their serves from the start, with Djokovic finding his precision return game to make the difference.
Djokovic secured the opening set with a break and stayed in focus to secure a 4-2 lead in the second
But Dancevic, who had knocked off Mario Ancic 24 hours earlier, saved a match point in the eighth game and broke Djokovic before the Serb broke back a game later for the win under threatening skies.
Former champion Andy Roddick had to work harder than expected to suppress an upset bid from France’s Nicolas Mahut with a 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 second-round win.
The 2003 titlist showed some signs of rust as he competed for the first time in nearly a month following a second-round loss at Wimbledon, which was followed by more work to rehab a right shoulder injured two months ago in Rome.
Spain’s 13th seed Fernando Verdasco and No. 16 Czech Tomas Berdych advanced on a day interrupted for a short period by showers and the fear of lightning.
German Tommy Haas was another winner. The 30-year-old beat Spain’s Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-2.
Canadian-born American Jesse Levine earned a match with second seed Nadal after beating Canada’s Peter Polansky 6-2, 6-4.
Swedes collected a hat-trick with first-round wins from Robin Soderling, lucky loser Thomas Johansson and 36-year-old Jonas Bjorkman.
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