By Nick Georgandis
© Mark Peterson/Corleve

Russia's Maria Kirilenko became the latest Top 20 seed to be shown the door Thursday at the Australian Open, drubbed in straight sets by Iveta Benesova, 6-3, 6-1.

Benesova needed less than 80 minutes to take advantage of 21 unforced Kirilenko errors, outacing her opponent 6-0. It was a tough end for Kirilenko, a quaterfinalist here in 2010.

Another unseeded winner on Thursday was Romania's Simona Halep, who took down No. 24 Alisa Kleybanova 6-4, 7-6(2). More famous for her breast reduction surgery last summer than most of her actual work on the court, the 77th-ranked Halep is in uncharted territory at a Grand Slam, having never made it past the first round of any of them.

She's joined there by fifth seed Samantha Stosur, who cruised in two sets, as did 10th seeded Shahar Peer, 12th seed Agnieska Radwanska, 22nd seed Flavia Pennetta, 25th seed Petra Kvitova and 16th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.



On Court 3, the comeback trail of France's Alize Cornet continued with a 7-5, 6-1 win over 26th seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. A Top 20 player in 2008, Cornet is in the third round of a major for the first time since doing so here in 2009.

Lucie Safarova, the 31st seed, advanced in three sets over Klara Zakopalova, 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-5, and Ekaterina Makarova defeated Lesya Tsurenko in a battle of unseeded players.

More pictures from Day 4