Two of last year’s surprise semi-finalists, China’s Zheng Jie and Germany’s Rainer Schuettler, made early exits.
Zheng, the first Chinese to reach the last four of a grand slam singles tournament which she did as a wildcard, was beaten 6-3, 7-5 by Slovakia’s former world No. 5 Daniela Hantuchova. No. 18 seed Schuettler lost in straight sets to Israel’s Dudi Sela.
Olympic champion and fourth seed Elena Dementieva beat Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai 6-1, 6-3.
Japan’s 33-year-old Ai Sugiyama flew the flag for the older generation, backing up her opening day win over Patty Schnyder with a 7-6, 6-3 defeat of Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja to set up a third-round clash with doubles partner Hantuchova.
French Open quarter-finalist Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, seeded eight, blew away Raluca Olaru 6-0, 6-0 and now faces another Romanian, 28th seed Sorana Cirstea.
Tenth seed Nadia Petrova, one of the army of Russians that dominate the women’s draw, cruised through with the loss of just five games against Israeli Shahar Peer.
Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, the charismatic ninth seed from France, had an unexpected day off, getting through the second round without having to take his rackets out of his bag after Italian opponent Simone Bolelli withdrew with a back injury.
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