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Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova made an early exit as second-round action got underway at the Los Angeles Classic.

The sixth-seed Hantuchova, trying to regain her form after battling a stress fracture in her foot earlier this year, was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

It marked the second week in a row that the Slovakian lost her opening match on California hardcourts, following her exit at the hands of Ai Sugiyama last week in Stanford.

Third-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze, 21, advanced with ease, downing Poland's Marta Domachowska 6-1, 6-1 in the day's other second-round encounter.

In first-round action, American Vania King defeated qualifier Angela Haynes 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with top-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic.

Jankovic, the world No.2 who has the No.1 spot of compatriot Ana Ivanovic in her sights, is also recovering from a knee injury - suffered at Wimbledon.

"I'm not 100 percent ready to play this week, but I will use this tournament as preparation and play as much as possible, hopefully, to get ready for the big tournaments," Jankovic said.

In other matches on Tuesday, 2007 runner-up Nadia Petrova of Russia cruised past compatriot Alina Jidkova 6-0, 6-4 in a first-round clash.

Petrova, seeded ninth, lost in last year's final to Ivanovic, who did not return to defend the title.

While Petrova produced a respectable quarter-final effort at Wimbledon, she has yet to show much consistency this season.

She has gone without a WTA singles title since February 2007 at the Paris indoors.

Flavia Pennetta of Italy cruised past Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1, 6-0, bringing the Canadian's winning streak to an end.

Wozniak emerged from qualifying in Stanford last week and became the first Canadian to win a WTA title in two decades.

Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic also advanced to the second round, beating Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-1.

AFP