Russian Nadia Petrova became the first big-name casualty of the Los Angeles Open while twice champion Serena Williams won her opening match in convincing style on Tuesday.
Second seed Petrova, who has struggled with injury since winning three consecutive titles on clay earlier this year, lost 6-3 6-2 to Spanish doubles specialist Virginia Ruano Pascual in the second round. "The problems are especially in my head," Petrova told reporters at the Home Depot Center. "I feel like I'm not on the court, I am somewhere next to it.
"It's ridiculous to lose 6-3 6-2. I'm really fighting with myself with just focusing on what I'm doing. "I'm trying to push myself, I try to tell myself to fight but my whole body is against it," added the Russian, who also lost her opening match at the Acura Classic in San Diego last week.
"It's hard for me to get motivated. I really hope that won't happen again." The 24-year-old from Moscow won four tournaments this year before suffering a groin injury at the French Open where she lost to Japan's Akiko Morigami in the first round.
She was sidelined for two months, pulling out of Eastbourne and Wimbledon with a hip injury, before losing her first match back in straights sets in San Diego where she was the third seed.
Williams, playing only her second tournament in seven months because of a chronic knee injury, breezed past 11th seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-2 6-1 in a first-round match.
The seven-times grand slam champion dominated her opponent from inside the baseline, blasting her groundstrokes and moving quickly from side to side. "I feel I'm going in the right direction," Williams said after firing down eight aces. "I don't want to peak too soon. I just want to make some improvements here and there and keep training and keep working hard.
"I felt I was hitting the ball fairly cleanly and I want to keep moving forward. My shot-making ability is much better and I've been working on movement drills. "I always believed that I could be a better player than I was when I was playing my best and I still believe that I can be. There's so much more room for improvement."
Williams, a winner here in 1999 and 2000, had not competed since losing to Russian Vera Zvonareva in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open last month, her first tournament since the Australian Open in January.
Tuesday's performance, she felt, was a significant improvement. In first-round upsets, Japan's ninth seed Ai Sugiyama lost to American Laura Granville 7-5 6-2 and Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, the 17th seed, was knocked out by American Meghann Shaughnessy 4-6 6-4 6-4 after a three-hour contest.
Thirteenth-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues also made an early exit, going down 6-4 6-3 to Russian Anna Chakvetadze in their first-round encounter. However, Russian third seed Elena Dementieva moved smoothly into the third round with a 6-2 7-5 win over German Julia Schruff.