Tennis-Chakvetadze marches on in LA, injured Serena pulls out

By Matthew Cronin

LOS ANGELES, July 22 (Reuters) - Russia's Anna Chakvetadze eased into the third round of the Los Angeles Classic with a 6-1 6-1 thrashing of Marta Domachowska on Tuesday as Serena Williams became the latest injury casualty of the tournament.

The third seed eased past her Polish opponent with the minimum of fuss, never giving Domachowska an opportunity to settle with an assured and energetic display.

"I played very well," the world number eight told reporters.

"I concentrated all match and overall, it was excellent."

While Chakvetadze was enjoying an easy workout, Williams succumbed to the knee injury that forced her out of the semi-finals at Stanford last week and withdrew from the tournament a day before she was due to open her campaign.

The second seed joined her sister and Wimbledon champion Venus, world number four Svetlana Kuznetsova and former world number one Lindsay Davenport on the sidelines, depriving the event of four major drawcards.

All four players are suffering from knee injuries.

Returning from injury but also finding herself on the sidelines was sixth seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who was beaten 6-2 6-4 by Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the day's other second round match.