Top two Paris teams out of doubles in 1st round

Top seeds Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova were upset today by wild cards Alize Cornet and Virginie Razzano in the first round of play in Paris. Cornet and Razzano, who are just coming off of some tough Fed Cup play in Moscow, beat Huber and Petrova 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.

The number 2 seeds, Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, are gone, too. Maria Elena Camerin and Darya Kustova defeated them 6-4, 6-3.

Benesova and Zahlavova Srycova won the 2009 Open GDF SUEZ last year when they were given a walkover by Cara Black and Huber.

Zvonareva and Zheng out in first round of Italian Open

Vera Zvonareva, seeded 15th in Rome, lost the first set of her first round match against Petra Kvitova, then went on to win only six more points in the match. Kvitova's 6-4, 6-0 win over Zvonaeva is the first major upset of the tournament ("major" because Zvonareva would normally be seeded higher but is still working her way back from a long injury layoff). Zvonareva, who says she is not near her optimum fitness level, did get to the final in Charleston, but was soundly defeated in that event by Sam Stosur.

Also going out today was Zheng Jie, who lost to wild card Maria Elena Camerin. Camerin defeated Zheng 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted 2 hours and 51 minutes.

Play today was repeatedly interrupted by rain.

Top doubles seeds out at U.S. Open

Maria Elena Camerin of Italy, who used her inside-out forehand to give Serena Williams a spirited second round match earlier this week, joined Gisela Dulko in taking out the number one seeds in doubles today

Cara Black and Liezel Huber went out in the second round today, defeated by Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko, 1-6, 7-6, 6-2. The unseeded team will probably face Corina Morariu and Meghann Shaughnessy, unless there is another upset. Morariu played doubles with Patty Schnyder for some time after she lost her long-time doubles partner, Lindsay Davenport, but Schnyder has been playing with doubles specialist Janette Husarova lately. Dulko was playing with Flavia Pennetta, but has been playing with Camerin lately.