Montreal:
Czech qualifier Iveta Benesova stunned Serbian top seed Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the third round of the two million-dollar WTA Montreal Cup.
The 27-year-old left-hander, who is ranked 75th in the world, began the year 2-9 before winning her second career WTA singles crown in May at Morocco.
But Benesova had been 4-8 since then until ousting Jankovic from the last major US Open tuneup event.
Just one week ago, Jankovic was ousted by a qualifier at Cincinnati in the third round of the other major tuneup for the year's final Grand Slam event, which starts a week from Monday at New York.
Benesova booked a date against the winner of a Wednesday match between Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm, who beat Romania's Monica Niculescu 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-2, and France's Marion Bartoli, who beat Canada's Valerie Tetreault 6-1, 6-0.
Also reaching the third round was Russian eighth seed Vera Zvonareva, who ousted Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-1.
China's Zheng Jie breezed past Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 6-3, 6-2 to book a second-round match against France's Aravane Rezai.
Reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters, who had a first-round bye, will open against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who ousted fellow American Melanie Oudin 6-1, 6-4.
The 27-year-old left-hander, who is ranked 75th in the world, began the year 2-9 before winning her second career WTA singles crown in May at Morocco.
But Benesova had been 4-8 since then until ousting Jankovic from the last major US Open tuneup event.
Just one week ago, Jankovic was ousted by a qualifier at Cincinnati in the third round of the other major tuneup for the year's final Grand Slam event, which starts a week from Monday at New York.
Benesova booked a date against the winner of a Wednesday match between Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm, who beat Romania's Monica Niculescu 7-6 (7/4), 4-6, 6-2, and France's Marion Bartoli, who beat Canada's Valerie Tetreault 6-1, 6-0.
Also reaching the third round was Russian eighth seed Vera Zvonareva, who ousted Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-2, 6-1.
China's Zheng Jie breezed past Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 6-3, 6-2 to book a second-round match against France's Aravane Rezai.
Reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters, who had a first-round bye, will open against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who ousted fellow American Melanie Oudin 6-1, 6-4.
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