An upsetting day in Indian Wells

Today was a continuation of the trend of upsets in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The biggest upset was the defeat of 2nd seed Jelena Jankovic in straight sets by talented young Anastasia Pavlyuenchenkova. Then there was the defeat of 3rd seed Elena Dementieva by qualifier Petra Cetkovska. As one might expect, Dementieva's service game was weak. Also going out was 11th seed Alize Cornet, defeated by qualifier Kristina Barrois, and 14th seed Dominika Cibulkova, defeated by Nuria Llagostera Vives. Vera Dushevina defeated 15th seed Zheng Jie, Qualifier Angela Haynes defeated 20th seed Ai Sugiyama, and 27th seed Sara Errani retired with a thigh strain in her match against countrywoman Karin Knapp.

Of special interest were two matches that were very close. Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Samantha Stosur 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. And in a match that was filled with tension--even if you were just "watching" it on the electronic scoreboard, as I was--Daniela Hantuchova saved two match points and defeated Yanina Wickmayer 5-7, 6-3, 7-6. Whatever choking Hantuchova may be prone to do, she did not appear to do it in this match.

In doubles, the Bondarenko sisters were sent home by the Russian team of Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova. And wild cards Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amelie Mauresmo were defeated by wild cards Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Mashona Washington.