LOS ANGELES: 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 semifinals 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.

Hantuchova is recovering from a long-term foot problem and her poor display left her with little doubt over the hard work that lies ahead for her to regain full fitness.

One player who has shown glimpses of returning to her best form is Russian Nadia Petrova and the ninth seed eased into the second round with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over compatriot Alina Jidkova.

Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak’s dream run came to a shuddering halt with a 6-1, 6-0 defeat to Italian 10th seed Flavia Pennetta.

Other seeds to advance were number 11 Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic and number 15 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. American Vania King beat qualifier Angela Haynes 6-3, 6-3 and was set to face top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in a second round match later on Wednesday.