SARASOTA, Florida, April 1: Third seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland was ousted by American Ansley Cargill on Monday from the opening round of the Sarasota Open claycourt event.

Schnyder fell 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 for her third-straight defeat. She has lost six of her last nine matches.

Cargill, a 21-year-old wild card entrant, improved to just 5-8 in main draw matches during her career.

No. 7 Nathalie Dechy of France was the only other seeded player in action Monday. Dechy, who won her first career singles title at Gold Coast in January, dispatched Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-2.

Also, Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian of Switzerland got past Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 and Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn beat 18-year-old American Shenay Perry 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.

Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia is the top seed and defending champion. Dokic has been struggling and snapped a four-match losing streak at the Nasdaq-100 Open last week to reached the quarterfinals.

Alexandra Myskina of Russia is seeded second. Ai Sugiyama of Japan, Elena Dementieva of Russia, Israel’s Anna Pistolesi and last year’s runner-up Tatiana Panova of Russia round out the eight seeds.

Results

First round: Ansley Cargill bt Patty Schnyder 6-4, 2-6, 6-4;

Nathalie Dechy bt Denisa Chladkova 6-4, 6-2; Tamarine Tanasugarn bt

Shenay Perry 7-6 (7/2), 6-2; Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian bt Daja Bedanova

3-6, 6-4, 6-2,—AFP