Tennis: Pe'er crashes out of Rogers Cup

21-year-old loses 2-6, 2-6 to Ai Sugiyama of Japan and is struggling ahead of the Olympic tennis tournament.

By ALLON SINAI
peer teeth 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
peer teeth 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Shahar Pe'er suffered a humbling defeat for a second straight week on Wednesday and is struggling desperately ahead of the Olympic tennis tournament. The 21-year-old lost 2-6, 2-6 to Ai Sugiyama of Japan in the second round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal, just over a week after winning only two games in a loss to Samantha Stosur in Los Angeles. The Israeli, who is ranked at No. 23 in the world, won just 39 percent of the points on her serve against Sugiyama (33) and is not looking like a player who can make any impression on the Olympic tournament, which starts on August 10. Also at the Rogers Cup, seventh-seeded Dinara Safina of Russia and No. 9 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland both won in straight sets and advanced to the third round of the $1.34 million event. Safina won 92 percent of the points on her first serve and easily moved past her Russian compatriot Anastasia Rodionova 6-2, 6-4, completing the victory in 70 minutes. Schnyder beat Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-1, 7-5, winning five straight games to rally from 2-5 in the second set. In the Cincinnati Masters, Roger Federer was relieved to shake off last week's early round loss in Toronto and beat Robby Ginepri 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-0 in the first round on Tuesday. "I'm happy I'm back with a one-match winning streak," Federer joked. "I'm happy I could turn it around today." Ginepri was 0-4 against the top-ranked Swiss going into the match, but pressured him through two sets until Federer wore him down and Ginepri began missing with his first serve. The $2.6 million ATP Western & Southern Financial Group Masters is Federer's second tournament since having his Wimbledon title streak broken by second-ranked Rafael Nadal. A week ago, Federer was ousted from the Toronto Masters in the second round, and his No. 1 ranking would have been in danger if that had happened again this week. Nadal could still overtake Federer if the Spaniard wins the Cincinnati title and the Swiss loses before the semifinals. AP contributed to this report.