Upsets mark Rogers Cup opening day

Along with Bartoli‚ Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic were eliminated‚ while Sam Stosur won on the opening day of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament on Monday. The ninth-seeded Frenchwoman struggled with her serve throughout the match, giving away four double-fault points, while her Kazakh opponent capitalized on her opportunities by winning four of her six break points and took the match 6-3, 6-3.
Only four seeds took to the court Monday and three lost. Along with Bartoli, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic were eliminated, while Sam Stosur won. “I tried my hardest but I committed so many mistakes it was hard to win. I was not feeling the ball and my legs were not moving. I was late on everything and committing a lot mistakes, especially on my backhand,” Bartoli said.
Voskoboeva will play either Mario Kirilenko of Russia or Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in the second round.
Germany’s Julia Goerges topped No. 15 seed Jankovic with a 6-1, 6-3 victory in an evening match and her likely second-round opponent will be Serena Williams, who will play Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko in the first round.
Goerges sailed through the first set against the former No. 1 with overpowering forehand winners from the baseline and an aggressive first serve.
It was the first match since Wimbledon for Jankovic and the Serbian showed rust.
“I had a hard time playing my first match since June,” she said. “I wasn’t feeling my game out there and hopefully with more matches I’ll be better in my next tournament.”
Romanian Simona Halep—another qualifier—upset 12th-seeded Kuznetsova of Russia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The 15th-ranked Kuznetsova had 50 unforced errors to send Halep to the second round in her Rogers Cup debut.
Halep’s second-round opponent will be Czech Lucie Safarova, who defeated Slovenia’s Polona Hercog 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Australia’s Stosur came from a set down to win 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Japan’s Ayumi Morita. Stosur will face either Israel’s Shahar Peer of wildcard home favorite Aleksandra Wozniak.
China’s Jie Zheng defeated Italy’s Alberta Brianti 6-2, 6-1; Russia’s Nadia Petrova ousted Australia’s Jarmila Gajdosova 6-1, 6-2; and Hungary’s Greta Arn upended the Czech Republic’s Klara Zakopalova 6-3, 6-1.
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain overcame Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyunchenkova 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, and Ekaterina Makarova defeated Rebecca Marino 7-6 (8), 6-4.