Sixth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova was upset 6-2 6-4 by Olga Govortsova at the East West Bank Classic today, making an unexpectedly early second-round exit just hours after Serena Williams withdrew.
Williams, seeded No.2, pulled out with a left knee injury.
Govortsova, 19, of Belarus, wasted three match points on her serve in the ninth game of the second set, then capitalised on her fourth with a forehand to the open court at 30-40 on Hantuchova's serve.
Hantuchova, who still is trying to find her form after a long layoff from a stress fracture in her right heel, said that her game is "not there yet. I just have to be patient, keep practicing and keep working hard. It's a long way back."
Earlier in the day, before Stephanie Dubois of Canada closed out the first round by beating Playboy magazine cover girl Ashley Harkleroad, 6-2 6-3, Wimbledon quarterfinalist Nadia Petrova moved into the second round with her first hardcourt win since January, a 6-0 6-4 victory over Russian Alina Jidkova.
Williams had withdrawn Saturday at Stanford, but expressed a desire to play at the Home Depot Center over the advice of medical personnel and her father.
But she said that after warming up today she knew she could not compete and joined sister Venus Williams, Lindsay Davenport and Svetlana Kuznetsova on the sidelines.
Top-seeded Jelena Jankovic, who could claim the No.1 ranking in the world by winning here, will play her first match Wednesday against 98th-ranked American Vania King. Jankovic is coming back from a knee injury and has been idle since Wimbledon.
