Schnyder Cruises in Opener; Petrova, Schiavone Ousted

Patty Schnyder won through comfortably but Nadia Petrova and Francesca Schiavone were both ousted, as the first round brought mixed fortunes for the seeds at the $600,000 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford on Tuesday.
 
Schnyder, the No.5 seed this week, needed just 44 minutes to absolutely crush wildcard Amber Liu, 61 61. Schnyder won 28 of the 33 points on her serve and won nearly two thirds of the points on Liu's serve en route to the quick victory, her 20th of the year (she is now 20-13 this season).
 
Stanford has been a trusty tournament for Schnyder in the past. After losing in the second round in her debut appearance at the Tier II event in 1999, the Swiss lefty has reached the quarterfinals or better in all four of her appearances, including a semifinal in 2005 (falling to Venus Williams in a thrilling three-setter) and a runner-up finish in 2006 (falling to Kim Clijsters).
 
Petrova and Schiavone didn't fare as well as Schnyder. Petrova, seeded No.7, fell to Dominika Cibulkova, 64 36 63, while Schiavone, seeded No.8, lost to qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak, 26 63 62. Cibulkova's win over the No.17-ranked Petrova was her fourth Top 20 win of the year; Wozniak's win over the No.20-ranked Schiavone was a first career Top 20 win for the big-hitting Canadian.
 
On Monday, the only other Top 8 seed to contest a first round match, No.6 seed Marion Bartoli, won through to the second round. The Top 4 seeds - Serena Williams, Anna Chakvetadze, Vera Zvonareva and Daniela Hantuchova - all got first round byes and will begin their week in the second round.
 
Winners in matches between unseeded players were Shahar Peer, who defeated qualifier Melinda Czink, 75 60; qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito, who beat Gisela Dulko, 75 76(1); lucky loser Samantha Stosur, who beat Anastasia Rodionova, 63 61; and qualifier Anne Keothavong, who beat Sania Mirza, 76(4) 61.

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