Seeds tumble in Miami
Ana Ivanovic knocked out of Sony Ericsson Open in third round
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Monday, 30, Mar 2009 12:18
Four of the top ten seeds at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, including world number two Dinara Safina, have been knocked out in the third round.
Safina, who was among the favourites to claim the trophy in Florida after her good recent form, suffered a shock 6-1 6-4 defeat to unseeded Australian Sam Stosur.
The Russian was one of several big-name exits early in the tournament, with Ana Ivanovic, Vera Zvonareva and Nadia Petrova also crashing out.
Ivanovic lost out after a titanic tussle with Agnes Szavay of Hungary, losing 6-4 4-6 6-1, while Zvonareva also endured a three-set marathon before suffering a 6-4 3-6 6-2 defeat to China's Li Na.
Petrova's exit proved to be a more straightforward affair, as she suffered a straight-sets defeat to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-1.
Meanwhile, top seed Serena Williams is comfortably through after a straight-sets win over China's Peng Shuai.
And the American will be joined in the fourth round by elder sister Venus, who beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 7-5 6-3.