MONTREAL, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Jennifer Capriati was one of five seeds to reach the third round Wednesday at the Rogers AT&T Cup.
Capriati advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over American qualifier Sarah Taylor in their first meeting.
With top seed and defending champion Serena Williams pulling out Tuesday with a knee injury, Capriati became the favorite in this hardcourt event, which is a warm-up tournament for the U.S. Open.
Making her ninth appearance at the tournament, Capriati was a champion here in 1991 as a 15-year-old and lost in the 1993 final to Steffi Graf and the 2001 final to Williams -- both in three sets.
Three other seeds from among the top five advanced to the third round as No. 3 Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia posted a 6-3, 6-4 victory over unseeded Martina Sucha of Slovakia; No. 4 Kim Clijsters of Belgium got past Nicole Pratt of Austria, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1; and No. 5 Justine Henin advanced when Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia retired in the third set. Henin was leading 5-7, 6-0, 4-1.
No. 8 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia advanced with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) victory over Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. No. 16 Chanda Rubin of the United States, fresh off her victory over Lindsay Davenport at Los Angeles, was one of four upset victims, falling to Austria's Barbara Schett, 6-4, 6-4.
No. 9 Elena Dementieva of Russia fell to Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-3, 6-3; No. 10 Silvia Farina Elia of Italy lost to American qualifier Laura Granville, 6-2, 6-1; and No. 12 Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic was bounced by Francesca Schiavone, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
In matches involving unseeded players, Spanish qualifier Virginia Ruano Pascual posted a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Russian wild card Anna Kournikova, who is still searching for her first singles title.
Clarisa Fernandez of Argentina ousted Natalie Dechy of France, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Ai Sugiyama of Japan bounced Argentina's Paola Suarez, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; and American Alexandra Stevenson toppled Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
