July 27, 2006	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 30, 1427

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STANFORD, July 26: American Shenay Perry shocked fifth seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 0-6 6-3 in the first round of Bank of the West Classic late on Tuesday.

Continuing the momentum she gained in reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon, the 22-year-old mixed powerful serves with a creative baseline attack to confuse the Slovak.

The 49th-ranked Perry was forced to qualify for the tournament, but said winning three matches in the preliminary rounds gave her confidence.

“This isn't the same feeling as reaching the second week of Wimbledon, but it's great to beat someone who has been a top 10 player,” Perry told reporters.

“I didn't feel much pressure.”

After being spun around in the first set, Hantuchova recovered her form, overpowering Perry with crisp groundstrokes to level the match.

But Perry broke Hantuchova at the start of the third set and served huge to stay in control the rest of the way.

Keeping her slice backhand low and hammering her forehand, Perry held on to win the match when she forced Hantuchova into a forehand error.

“I made too may mistakes,” Hantuchova said.

“I set up the points well, but I couldn't finish them. But she played well and her serve had a lot of action on it.

Serbian Jelena Jankovic also advanced after knocking out American Lilia Osterloh 7-5 6-3.

Playing in intense heat, the 27th-ranked Jankovic played inconsistently but wore out her opponent at key moments. —Reuters