DOHA – The cull of seeded players continued in Doha with Francesca Schiavone and Shahar Peer crashing out of the WTA Qatar Open in one-sided matches here on Wednesday. Italian Schiavone, the third seed, became the biggest casualty yet at the tournament when she was ousted by China’s Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-3 in the second round, while the eighth-seeded Peer, who had beaten two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kusnetsova on Tuesday, was thrashed by Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-1, 6-0.
No. 5 Jelena Jankovic defeated Sania Mirza of India 6-0, 6-1 to set up a quarter-fianl meeting with Zakopalova. In another match, Daniela Hantuchova rallied to beat Vera Dushevina of Russia 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. World no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki also made it to the quarters after defeating Russian Nadia Petrova 6-3, 6-2. Flavia Pennetta beat Lucie Safarova 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.
Schiavone, the world number five, was thoroughly outplayed by the bustling Peng, who scored her second consecutive victory over the Italian, following her win at the 2009 Australian Open. Bartoli, too, was in a zone of her own as she totally dominated Peer to win in 61 minutes. Israeli Peer had won seven of their previous nine encounters beginning 2005, the most recent coming at the French Open last year.
Fourth-seeded Li Na was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.
