Eighth-seeded Jelena Dokic beat Indonesian qualifier Angelique Widjaja 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday to move into the third round at the Rogers AT&T Cup.
Dokic, of Serbia-Montenegro, who had a first-round bye, has struggled to string wins together this season, reaching only one semifinal.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Seventh-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, No. 12 Elena Bovina of Russia, No. 14 Nadia Petrova of Russia and No. 15 Nathalie Dechy of France won first-round matches Tuesday, but No. 6 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria, No. 13 Eleni Daniilidou of Greece and No. 16 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia lost.
Coetzer beat Japan's Saori Obata 7-6 (1), 6-4; Bovina downed Spain's Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-2, 6-4; Petrova, a French Open semifinalist, eliminated Germany's Marlene Weingartner 6-0, 6-0; and Dechy beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Spain's Magui Serna upset Maleeva 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia beat Daniilidou 6-0, 3-6, 7-5; and Argentine Paola Suarez eliminated Kuznetsova 6-4, 7-6 (1).
Italy's Francesca Schiavone beat Russian Alina Jidkova 7-5, 6-3 to set up a second-round match against new world No. 1 Kim Clijsters yesterday.
In other matches Tuesday, Australian Nicole Pratt defeated Canadian Beier Ko 6-1, 6-3; Elena Likhovtseva defeated teen sensation and fellow Russian Maria Sharapova 7-6 (4), 6-1; and Mary Pierce, who was born in Montreal but plays out of France, beat Venezuela's Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-1, 6-1.
Since the French Open, Dokic's ranking has dropped from No. 11 to 17. The 20-year-old was No. 4 a year ago. Her best performance this season was in April in Warsaw, where she lost to Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals. In the French Open, she failed to make it past the second round while she was eliminated in the third round at Wimbledon.
Dokic said she was bound to have a rough season eventually.
"I've played very well the last few years, I've just kept going up," she said. "And you get a year where you don't play so well and this is normal. This happens, I know this ... You can't play well for 10 years of your career."
Dokic has played 21 tournaments this year, and believed cutting back her schedule might be the key to bouncing back.
"I've played a lot of matches so I think mentally, I got a little bit tired," she said.
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