Wednesday, August 9 2006 17:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Los Angeles: Nadia Petrova's bid to put her once promising season back together suffers another setback Tuesday (08 Aug, 2006) when the second-seeded Russian falls in straight sets to Spain's Virginia Ruano Pascual.

Ruano Pascual, a doubles specialist ranks 73rd in the world, downs Petrova 6-3, 6-2 to reach the third round of the 600,000-dollar US Open tune up. It is a second straight disappointment for world No. 5 Petrova, who won four titles early in 2006 and rose to a career-high No. 3 in the rankings before falling prey to injury at the French Open. She withdrew from Wimbledon with a hip injury, and her return to action last week in San Diego also ended in a second-round exit after a first-round bye. Petrova, 24, said her problem Tuesday (08 Aug, 2006) is mental rather than physical. "The problem is especially in my head I'm not on the court, I'm somewhere next to it," she says.

"It's a little hard to explain," she adds. "It's not about the game. I try to tell myself to fight, but my whole body is against it. It doesn't want to move fast, it's hard for me to be motivated." Petrova says she has been through similar experiences in the wake of previous injuries, and believes she can move on. "Before, my will and my spirit helped me get out of it, I know I can play the same tennis. I just need matches," she says.

American Laura Granville also engineers an upset, ousting ninth-seeded Ai Sugiyama 7-5, 6-2 in one of the 11 first-round matches on Tuesday's (08 Aug, 2006) slate. American Meghann Shaughnessy topples another seed, beating 17th-seeded Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Dechy, ranked 30th in the world, saves four match points in the final game of the match before succumbing to the 79th-ranked Shaughnessy. Seven-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams highlights the night session taking on 11th-seeded Russian Maria Kirilenko in the first round.

Williams, who won the Los Angeles title in 1999 and 2000, has played just two tournaments this year after a six-month injury layoff. In Cincinnati last month, Williams reached the semi-finals, but she withdrew from San Diego rather than risk playing too many matches. In other second-round matches Tuesday (08 Aug, 2006), third-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva takes on German Julia Schruff, fifth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina faces American Vania King and Italian eighth seed Flavia Pennetta takes on US wildcard Bethanie Mattek.