Russia's [Images] Svetlana Kuznetsova [Images] continued her poor run of form in the build up to the defence of her U.S. Open title, falling 6-4, 6-4 to Greece's Eleni Daniilidou in the second round of JP Morgan Chase Open on Wednesday.

While the second seed remained mired in worrying slump, her compatriots prospered, with number three Elena Dementieva [Images] easing past Australia's [Images] Samantha Stosur [Images] 6-4, 6-3 and fourth seed Nadia Petrova [Images] crushing American wild card Jill Craybas 6-3, 6-1.

Further down the Russian pecking order, 12th seed Dinara Safina [Images] overcame Japanese qualifier Rika Fujiwara 6-2, 7-5, while 16th seed Anna Chakvetadze [Images] outlasted Iveta Benesova [Images] 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

Losing her opening match for the second consecutive week, Kuznetsova looked well short of the confidence that carried her to glory in New York.

The 22-year-old Daniilidou served well during the entire contest and matched Kuznetsova stroke-for-stroke in the rallies, securing victory with a booming ace down the middle.

"It's horrible," said Kuznetsova, who has not won a title in more than 10 months.

"I can't find my game. I don't have confidence and everything comes from the head. If I keep playing like this, I might as well go home."

Kim Clijsters [Images] enjoyed a happy return to the place where she gained the number one ranking two years ago with a 6-2, 6-1 drubbing of an erratic Karolina Sprem of Croatia.

"She likes to go for shots, but she doesn't have a Plan B," Clijsters said. "If she's on, she can hit incredible shots. If she's off, she struggles to change things and turn it around."

The fifth-seeded Clijsters has only lost one match on U.S. hard courts this year, that coming against China's Shuai Peng in San Diego last week.

Looking strong for a tilt at the U.S. Open starting on August 29, the 22-year-old Belgian has won hard court titles at Indian Wells, Miami [Images] and Stanford.

BIG MATCH

Chakvetadze's victory earned the world number 31 a third round encounter against compatriot and top seed Maria Sharapova [Images], who is two wins away from taking over the number one ranking.

"I'll have to focus on every point," said Chakvetadze, who fell to Sharapova at the French Open [Images].

"She's very good and it will be a big match for me."

Petrova, who suffered an elbow injury in San Diego last week, was briefly distracted by a spectator chatting on a mobile phone inside the stadium, but quickly regained her composure to dominate Craybas.

"It was quite annoying. I can almost tell you the number she was giving on the phone," the ninth-ranked Petrova said. "If I was more confident, I might have been more focused and it wouldn't have bothered me."

Earlier in the day, six seeded Frenchwoman Mary Pierce [Images] withdrew from the tournament with a right thigh strain.

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