Tennis : Three Seeds Survive Carnage

Five seeds fell on Wednesday as a whole new breed of players introduced themselves to New Zealand. Only half the quarterfinalists have played here before and only two more than once.

Shahar Peer of Israel made an Auckland quarterfinal in 2005, losing to Katarina Srebotnik, but there are not many faces familiar with the ASB Tennis Centre amongst the final eight.

Peer beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3 4-6 6-2 to book her place against top seed Elena Dementieva. On her first visit here, the Russian had too much class for a nervy and weary looking Marina Erakovic. A double injury timeout delayed the 6-3 6-2 inevitable.

Only one other seed survived the day, another newcomer, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. She accounted for well-known American Jill Craybas, tidily at 6-4 7-5.

Elena Vesnina bundled out the Czech sixth seed Nicole Vaidisova 6-4 6-3, and no-one seems to be able to recall a groundstroke of Vesnina's that wasn't right off the sweet spot... both women first timers here.

Another new face, Edina Gallovits of Romania efficiently gave third seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain (an Auckland regular) her marching orders 6-3 6-3.

Anne Keothavong of Great Britain only trip here was a loss in qualifying in 2007 by Shona Lee. She returns in 2009 as the top-ranked British player and makes the quarters courtesy of a sweetly taken 6-2 6-4 victory over eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. 2008 runner-up Aravane Rezai ousted seventh seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-2 6-3, and Japanese qualifier Ayumi Morita continued her giant-killing run with an upset of the fourth seed Aleksandra Wosniak of Canada.

The evening finished with a doubles match of great entertainment value, Russians Elena Dementieva and Elena Vesnina playing their countrywoman Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Yung-Jan Chen of Taiwan, the fourth seeds. Chan's forehands were the highlight again. What a tournament she's having, after scaring Dementieva in round one singles firing similar salvos from all angles.

The popular super tiebreak made for high drama, Chan and Pavlyuchenkova eventually winning it at 14-12, but only after Dementieva and Vesnina had fought back to take the second set 7-5, getting left at the starting line 0-6 in the first... cast usually mid-court as one after another bullet whizzed by.