Safina, V.Williams are again upset victims

BEIJING, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Dinara Safina and No. 3-ranked Venus Williams were eliminated in second-round play Monday at the $4.5 million China Open in Beijing.

It was the second consecutive week Safina and Williams were dismissed in the early rounds. They were beaten in second-round matches in Tokyo last week after receiving first-round byes and have both lost three of their last four matches.

Safina staggered through 13 double faults in losing to qualifier Shuai Zhang 7-5, 7-6 (7-5). Zhang is ranked 226th in the world. Safina lost to No. 132 Kai-chen Chang last week and will lose her No. 1 ranking if Serena Williams wins her match Tuesday.

Venus Williams had 12 double faults of her own in falling 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who also beat Williams in Tokyo.

No. 6-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova ripped Anabel Medina Garrigues and No. 16-seeded Li Na stopped Lucia Safarova 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 in other second-round matches Monday.

Also in the second round, Alona Bondarenko took out Sara Errani 6-3, 6-3 and Aleksandra Wozniak beat Alize Cornet 7-6 (7-0), 6-4.

In first-round play, No. 13-seeded Nadia Petrova won 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 over Alla Kudryavtseva while Daniela Hantuchova, Alisa Kleybanova, Francesca Schiavone and Vania King all won Monday.