 Safina struggled with her serve |
Top seed Dinara Safina became the latest big name to be knocked out of the Rogers Cup in Toronto after losing to Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai. Safina's 3-6 6-2 6-4 loss comes a day after world number three Venus Williams lost to Ukraine's Kateryna Bondarenko. The 23-year-old Russian opened well but served 17 double faults and was broken four times in the final set. "It's not my serve, it's just my brain. I know exactly what I have to do, but I am not using my brain," she said. "I just didn't take control of my head. I lost my temper. I had to slow down and I couldn't do the right things. I just went more and more crazy."  | I have a game plan, I step on to the court and do completely the opposite |
Safina ended the match by smashing her racket down on the court. "I have a game plan, but I step on to the court and do completely the opposite," lamented Safina. "Even my coach left the court because he says, 'It makes no sense sitting here because you do none of the things, so better to lose and do your own thing'. "I step onto the court and from the first point I am empty, I am dead. I better think what's going on. I have a big tournament (US Open) coming up and I have to switch my brain as fast as I can." Second seed Serena Williams cruised into the third round with a 6-3 6-2 win over Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova, while ninth seed Victoria Azarenka fell to Kim Clijsters 7-5 4-6 6-1. Also advancing were fourth seed Elena Dementieva, who cruised past Japan's Ai Sugiyama 6-3 6-2, fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, who beat Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 7-5 6-4 and seventh seed Vera Zvonareva, who downed Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-3. Unseeded Maria Sharapova also progressed with a 6-3 7-6 (7-5) win over Austria's Sybille Bammer but eighth seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was eliminated after losing 7-5 6-3 to China's Zheng Jie In other action, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, the 14th seed, beat Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-1 6-1, Israel's Shahar Peer defeated Italy's Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 6-4 while Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko cruised past Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia 6-3 6-0.
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