Second seed Venus Williams lost her opening match, toppled 7-6 7-5 by Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in front of an empty Tokyo Centre Court, way past midnight local time.

World number one Dinara Safina collapsed to a stunning 7-6 4-6 7-5 defeat by Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-chen yesterday at the Pan Pacific Open. Safina, dumped out of the US Open in the third round this month, struggled from the start against a player 131 places below her in the world rankings.

French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova followed her compatriot out of the tournament. The fifth seed was upset 7-5 4-6 6-3 by Germany's Andrea Petkovic, also a qualifier.

Sharapova restored pride

Former Tokyo winner Maria Sharapova restored pride for Russia and cheered the event sponsors with a battling 4-6 7-5 6-1 win over Italy's Francesca Schiavone.

However, Pavlyuchenkova's late-night ambushing of American Williams dealt a further blow to the prestige of the lucrative $2 million tournament.

Meanwhile, American third seed Sam Querrey has pulled out of the Thailand Open after undergoing emergency surgery for a freak arm injury sustained after a practice session, organisers said today.

Querrey was sent to hospital in Bangkok late yesterday after he stumbled and landed on a glass table, badly cutting his right forearm. The world number 25 will be replaced in the singles main draw by compatriot and lucky loser Donald Young. - Reuters