Szavay out at China Open

Beijing -- Defending tournament champion Agnes Szavay was defeated Thursday in second-round action at the $600,000 China Open hard-court tennis tournament in Beijing.

Anabel Medina Garrigues had little trouble in eliminating Szavay from this year's event. The win put Medina Garrigues into Friday's quarterfinals against fifth-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who was a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 winner over Francesca Schiavone in her second-round match Thursday.

Dominika Cibulkova posted a surprisingly easy 6-3, 6-2 win over eighth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze and earned a quarterfinals berth against fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kuznetsova advanced in a 6-2, 6-3 rout of Alla Kudryavtseva.

Also Thursday, second-seeded Ana Ivanovic defeated Alize Comet, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), and Jie Zheng whipped Ai Sugiyama, 6-1, 6-2. Ivanovic and Zheng are to meet in Friday's quarterfinals.

The fourth match Friday will send top-seeded Jelena Jankovic, last year's China Open runner-up, against seventh-seeded Daniela Hantuchova.

The tournament is to conclude with a title match Sunday in which the 2008 China open champion will take home $95,500.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.