AMELIA ISLAND (Florida), April 3: Tennis fans at this week's 600,000 dollar WTA Amelia Island tournament will have a hard time seeing the top players in women’s tennis.

The top six players in the rankings – a list that includes Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters – are not entered in the tier-two claycourt event, which began here on Monday.

The top seed is Nadia Petrova of Russia, who is ranked seventh in the world.

She won in Paris earlier this year but was unable to get past the quarter-finals last month at Indian Wells and Miami, a pair of tier one events with much deeper fields.

The top eight seeds receive first-round byes. Petrova will face Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who rallied for a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine on Monday.

The tournament’s first upset was engineered by Greece's Eleni Daniilidou, who scored a 6-0, 6-4 victory over 10th seed Marion Bartoli of France. Also, No. 14 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain was taken out by Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

Petrova's half of the draw also includes third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who won the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells; fifth-seeded Dina Safina of Russia; and seventh-seeded Li Na of China, who is playing the best tennis of her career.

Li reached the semi-finals at Indian Wells and the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, registering victories over Jelena Jankovic, Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters along the way.

She will meet Karolina Sprem of Croatia, who handled American Meghann Shaughnessy, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).

Another big name not entered is Serena Williams. However, her sister Venus is in the draw as an unseeded player. Playing in just her third event of the year, Williams faces Aravane Rezai of France on Tuesday.

On Williams' side of the draw are the second-seeded Serb Jankovic and fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

Results (x denotes seeding):

First round: Katarina Srebotnik (SLO x11) bt Jill Craybas (US) 7-6 (8/6), 6-1; Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP x14) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2; Zheng Jie (CHN x15) bt Alicia Molik (AUS) 6-4, 6-2; Alona Bondarenko (UKR x16) bt Gisela Dulko (ARG) 6-2, 6-3; Meilen Tu (US) bt Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 7-5, 6-1; Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) bt Vasilisa Bardina (RUS) 6-2, 6-2; Catalina Castano (COL) bt Elena Vesnina (RUS) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1; Michaella Krajicek (NED) bt Sun Tian-tian (CHN) 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-4; Kaia Kanepi (EST) bt Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 1-6, 6-1, 6-1; Vera Dushevina (RUS) bt Nicole Pratt (AUS) 6-1, 7-5; Julia Vakulenko (UKR) bt Julia Schruff (GER) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; Eleni Daniilidou (GRE) bt (10) Marion Bartoli (FRA x10) 6-0, 6-4; Sybille Bammer (AUT x13) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 6-3, 6-1; Mara Santangelo (ITA) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; Karolina Sprem (CRO) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5); Yaroslava Shvedova (RUS) bt Severine Bremond (FRA) 6-2, 3-1 retired; Virginie Razzano (FRA) bt Vania King (US) 6-3, 6-4; Martina Miller (GER x17) bt Ashley Harkleroad (US) 7-5, 6-1. –AFP