By Chris Davies
January 4 2005

Ai Sugyiama the defending champion was crushed by Dinara Safina yet another up and coming Russian in fine style at Uncle Toby's event, Gold Coast, Australia Safina, Marat Sain's sister, has struggled in the past to come up with the goods against top players and was in danger of being just another Russian in the top 50 but may now have changed her fortune.

The Japanese defending champion was strong favourite to overcome her first hurdle in relatively easy fashion but lost the first set 6-3. Sugiyama had no answer the the Russians game and quickly found herself out of the match in straight sets losing 6-3, 6-2.

Also through to the second round are Nadia Petrova the top seed along with Angela Haynes. Magdalena Maleeva, Patty Schnyder, Tatiana Golovin and Elena Likhovtseva were others to advanced into the quarter-finals.

All Results
First Round

(1) Nadia Petrova (Rus) bt Jie Zheng (Chn)
6-2, 6-3

Dinara Safina (Rus) bt (3) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn)
6-3, 6-2

Angela Haynes (USA) bt Stephanie Cohen Aloro (Fra)
6-3, 6-1


Second Round

(8) Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) bt Klara Koukalova (Cze)
7-5, 6-2

(5) Silvia Farina Elia (Ita) bt Denisa Chladkova (Cze)
5-7, 6-1, 6-3

Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt Iveta Benesova (Cze)
6-2, 7-6 (7-3)

Tatiana Golovin (Fra) bt Zi Yan (Chn)
6-1, 6-4

Samantha Stosur (Aus) bt (4) Karolina Sprem (Cro)
6-4, 6-2

Klara Koukalova (Cze) bt Jaslyn Hewitt (Aus)
6-4, 1-6, 6-2

Sisel Karatancheva (Bul) bt Maria Elena Camerin (Ita)
6-2, 6-4

Camille Pin (Fra) bt Anca Barna (Ger)
6-2, 6-4

(2) Patty Schnyder (Swi) bt Virginie Razzano (Fra)
6-2, 6-4

(7) Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Emilie Loit (Fra)
4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2