Serena wins as Hantuchova suffers Greek tragedy

Serena Williams celebrated her first match as the world number one with a 6-4 6-2 win over Russia's Lina Krasnoroutskaya on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Los Angeles Open.

Williams was one of the few seeds to win on a day when Daniela Hantuchova slumped to her second early round defeat in two weeks after being dumped out of the tournament by Eleni Daniilidou.

The top seed took the opening set on the strength of a single break of serve at 2-2 as she ran off 12 of 14 points in building a 4-2 lead in her first outing since claiming the Wimbledon title.

But Krasnoroutskaya, playing only her second match since injuring her ankle in the opening round of the Australian Open in January, offered more of a challenge in the second set.

As Williams struggled to put her first serve into play and made numerous volleying errors, Krasnoroutskaya worked her opponent from side to side and struck several crosscourt winners.

Although Williams broke to lead 1-0, she failed to capitalise on two points for a 3-0 advantage and then had to fight off two break points at 3-2.

After holding serve for 4-2 Williams then broke again when Krasnoroutskaya left a ball that fell in, but she was far from happy with her patchy performance.

"I didn't feel too good out there. I was definitely very rusty," Williams said.

"I made tons of errors and haven't been playing like this in a while. We all have some tough days and I was glad I was able to get through the match tonight.

I'm always like this in my first match here but normally I'm able to pick it up next match around."

HANTUCHOVA WOES

The sixth seeded Hantuchova was beaten 6-4 6-2 by her Greek opponent in a second round match after she had received a bye into the round of 32.

Other seeds to fall on the day were number seven Elena Dementieva, who was outlasted 6-2 6-7 7-5 by Ai Sugiyama, 11th seed Anna Smashnova, who was crushed 6-0 6-2 by Amanda Coetzer, and 14th seed Meghann Shaughnessy, who lost 6-4 6-4 to Janette Husarova.

Hantuchova, who lost to Sugiyama in San Diego last week when she received a point penalty on match point down for time-wasting, often looked tentative against a more positive opponent.

Daniilidou, who has yet to fully recover from a career-threatening broken left knee suffered two years ago, took advantage and played steadily to gain another notable victory in what has become a breakthrough year for the 21-year old.

Beginning 2002 ranked 83, she has climbed to 31 on the back of victories over opponents such as Justine Henin and Amelie Mauresmo.

"I was really aggressive on the court and was fighting every point," Daniilidou said.

"I was just playing my game actually. I attacked a little bit more than her. She stayed back on the baseline and I was much more positive.

"I usually like to play aggressively and closer to the net, but sometimes it depends on your opponent.

"Today I was so good from the baseline and just tried to attack if the ball was short. She's a really good player, but today I played better," she added.

STILL POSITIVE

Hantuchova admitted she had lost to a better player on the day, but was still in positive mood after reaching the quarter-finals of Wimbledon and leading Slovakia to victory over France in the Fed Cup last month.

"She was up to playing me and had nothing to lose," Hantuchova said.

"I was the one under pressure and she played very well.

"I didn't play my best and made a lost of mistakes, but all credit to her."

The unlucky player in the draw is fourth seed Jelena Dokic, who suffered a stomach virus when she faced Venus Williams in the San Diego final last Sunday.

Now suffering from the flu, the Yugoslav needed to draw on all her reserves to battle past Tina Pisnik 6-3 6-2.