LOS ANGELES: With top seeds Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams waiting in the wings to test their ailing knees, Samantha Stosur and Melinda Czink notched upset wins at the hardcourt tournament on Monday.

Hungary's Melinda, a lucky loser who only made it into the draw after Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew with a knee injury, ousted France's 13th-seeded Virginie Razzano 6-3, 6-3.

Australia's Samantha steamrolled 12th-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1.

All the eight top-seeded players received first-round byes.

Jelena will be playing for the first time since hurting her right knee at Wimbledon, where she limped out in the fourth round with a loss to Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.
Jelena, 23, could take over the World No 1 ranking from compatriot Ana Ivanovic with a victory here this week. \But she admitted her knee was still a concern, especially with the Beijing Olympics and US Open -- the last grand slam of the year -- looming.

Fitness is also a question for second-seeded American Serena,who withdrew while trailing from her semi-final match in Stanford, California, on Saturday with a sore left knee.

"I've been playing a lot of tennis," Serena said. "That's basically what it is, a lot of use."

Serena is scheduled to open today against Czech Petra Kvitova, a 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 winner over Russian Alisa Kleybanova on Monday.

Austrian Sybille Bammer, seeded 14th, got off to a quick start, winning the first 11 games en route to a 6-0, 6-4 victory over US qualifier Ahsha Rolle. -- AFP