Dropping like flies, part 2

Iveta Benesova holds the baseline in her doubles final at the 2005 Family Circle Cup

The third round hasn't begun yet, and many seeds have already been eliminated from the women's side of the Australian Open. The lastest to go are Ana Ivanovic, Sania Mirza, Gisela Dulko, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Dinara Safina, Marion Bartoli, and--the shock of the tournament so far--number five seed Mary Pierce, who was defeated by Iveta Benesova in straight sets. Seeds already eliminated are Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, Ai Sugiyama, Klara Koukalova, Anabel Medina-Garrigues, Tatiana Golovin, Vera Zvonareva, Nathalie Dechy, Elena Likhovtseva, and Jelena Jankovic.

Martina Hingis has moved into the third round and will play Benesova next.

Anastasia Myskina was the tournament's first heat stroke victim. She was unable to get any oxygen and had to receive treatment. It earned her a bagel in the second set, but she won the match. In the third set, her opponent, Jamea Jackson, also succumbed to the heat, which wasn't expected to get bad until the weekend.

Though she was defeated by Maria Sharapova in the second round, Ashley Harkleroad's return to tennis looks good. She qualified for the Australian Open, beat tough Chinese player Shuai Peng, and played extremely well against Sharapova, hitting solid ground strokes, showing a lot of good footwork, and exhibiting a very nice serve.

Kim Clijsters' injury is bothering her, but she is playing. However, when she is seriously challenged in a later round, the injury could be her undoing.