Dokic upset in opening round in Sarasota

Sarasota:

Top-seeded and defending tournament champion Jelena Dokic of Serbia and Montenegro was ousted by Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the US$140,000 Sarasota Clay Court Classic. In what has become a tournament of upsets, Dokic was one of three seeded players to lose on Tuesday. The others were No. 4 Ai Sugiyama of Japan and No. 8 Tatiana Panova of Russia. Third-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland was ousted on Monday from the season's first clay-court event. Russia's Anna Kournakova, meanwhile, continued her run of disappointing performances, crashing out 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to Croatia's Iva Majoli. The 19-year-old Dokic, who didn't lose a set last year in the tournament, never get her game going against Suarez, ranked 29th in the world. The ninth-ranked Dokic is the only top-10 player in the event. "I am very disappointed, but that's the way it goes sometimes," Dokic said. "I hit too many errors and gave her too many free points." The 22-year-old Suarez, who grew up on clay courts, said playing on her favourite surface was a significant advantage and helped negate Dokic's speed and power. The only time she didn't appear in control was in the second set, when she led 4-0 and Dokic came back with three straight points. "All my life I play on clay and I feel a lot more comfortable on it," Suarez said. "I'm glad I played Jelena in the first round than after she played a couple of matches on this surface. On clay, the ball doesn't come at you so hard and I try to hit more softer shots. It's difficult for hard players." Panova, a finalist last year, was beaten 6-3, 7-5 by Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan. Conchita Martinez of Spain beat Sugiyama 6-2, 7-5. (AP)