Like Autumn Leaves...

... the top seeds fall in Tokyo. The world No. 1 Dinara Safina is out. The No. 2 seed Venus Williams, out. The No. 5 seed and Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, out. All of them to qualifiers.

Who will take advantage of such bare, bare branches?

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Getty

Chang Kai-chen of Taiwan reacts with joy just after defeating world number one player Dinara Safina of Russia during their second round match at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament in Tokyo on September 28, 2009. Chang defeated Safina 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-5.

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TORAY PAN PACIFIC OPEN

Singles - Second Round
(Q) Chang Kai-Chen (TPE) d. (1/WC) Dinara Safina (RUS) 76(5) 46 75
(Q) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (2) Venus Williams (USA) 76(6) 75
(Q) Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 75 46 63

Singles - First Round
(11) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) 75 63
(12) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (Q) Alexa Glatch (USA) 75 60
(13) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (WC) Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 60 21 ret. (GI illness)
(14) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 63 60
Iveta Benesova (CZE) d. (16) Virginie Razzano (FRA) 36 76(5) 60
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (Q) Jill Craybas (USA) 63 63
Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 46 75 61
Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (Q) Sania Mirza (IND) 57 62 63
Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. (WC) Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) 57 76(2) 64
Vera Dushevina (RUS) d. Alona Bondarenko (UKR) 16 75 61
Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. (Q) Urszula Radwanska (POL) 64 64
Peng Shuai (CHN) d. Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) 63 63
(Q) Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) d. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) 63 61

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PTT Thailand Open

Singles - First Round
[8] J Isner (USA) d [WC] K Wachiramanowong (THA) 63 36 76(5)
T Bellucci (BRA) d G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 64 76(7)

Doubles - First Round
M Safin (RUS) / G Simon (FRA) d [4] J Coetzee (RSA) / R de Voest (RSA) 64 67(3) 10-4
B Becker (GER) / L Mayer (ARG) d [WC] S Ratiwatana (THA) / S Ratiwatana (THA) 63 26 10-3

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Proton Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2009

Singles - First Round
[Q] B Evans (USA) d [Q] M Yani (USA) 63 64
[WC] T Dent (USA) d A Golubev (KAZ) 46 63 76(4)
[WC] M Baghdatis (CYP) d Y Lu (TPE) 46 63 76(5)

Doubles - First Round
[WC] R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK) d [4] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Hanley (AUS) 63 64
S Huss (AUS) / S Lipsky (USA) d C Rochus (BEL) / M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 64 63