The men’s side of this week’s dual-gender claycourt tournament in Spain has not yet witnessed a major upset. In the women’s portion of the tournament, a different narrative has emerged.

Three upsets took center stage on a wacky Wednesday at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, giving the rest of the WTA Tour a great opportunity for a deep run at a significant claycourt title. The Magic Box tennis facility played host to three revolting developments, all of them involving top-10 seeds. In one match, sixth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova fell to unranked Alyona Bondarenko by a surprisingly tame 6-3, 6-2 scoreline. Later in the day, third-seeded Elena Dementieva–a 2004 French Open finalist–lost to France’s Amelie Mauresmo, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. Still later, eighth-seeded Nadia Petrova succumbed in three terrifically tight sets to Swiss lefty Patty Schnyder, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5). With both of the Williams sisters out of this event, it’s even more apparent that a dangerous floater–or a resilient high seed–has a great chance to capture a clay trophy before the curtain comes down on the red-dirt spring swing through the great cities of Europe.

If one had to rank the severity of these losses in the realm of women’s tennis, the biggest suprise would have to be Dementieva. The third-seeded Russian, who lost in this year’s Australian Open semifinals to eventual champion Serena Williams, is widely regarded to be the best women’s tennis player never to have won a major. With glorious groundstrokes and ample stamina, Dementieva has long possessed the physical tools needed to compete and win at the highest levels of competition. The problem for the 27-year-old has always been her mind. Sometimes paralyzed by pressure–as revealed by serving yips that crop up at the worst possible moments–and sometimes lacking in appetite, Dementieva simply hasn’t been able to cross the threshold that separates the solid, well-monied, highly-talented professional from the legendary, title-bearing, and generally unflappable tennis champion whose career legacy is happily secure. Dementieva has gotten wealthy from professional tennis, but she hasn’t stamped herself as one of the greats of the sport, a person worthy of being inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame. It’s all because of a frail psyche that fights just well enough to lose.

It’s not as though Dementieva couldn’t produce quality tennis in this round-of-16 match. The Russian pounced on Mauresmo to claim the first set before anyone’s seat was warm in Madrid. Yet, someway and somehow–and against an opponent who is noted for succumbing to flop sweat in her own right–Dementieva just couldn’t find herself in time to avoid a damaging defeat. Once Mauresmo claimed a tense second set, Dementieva never put up much of a fight. While players’ reputations aren’t built on the backs of non-slam tournaments, it still stands to reason that subpar efforts such as this one will keep Dementieva from winning the French Open (or, for that matter, any other prestigious tournament).

If any of Wednesday’s three upsets possessed a manifest lack of shock value, the answer would have to be Petrova’s setback against Schnyder. Petrova might have entered The Magic Box with an “(8)” next to her name, but the Russian veteran of the tennis wars hasn’t claimed any big scalps in a long and lucrative but ultimately unfulfilling career. A Schnyder victory wasn’t exactly expected, but as the Swiss pulled out the third-set tiebreak by the smallest of allowable margins (two points), the final score couldn’t have been too alarming to anyone in Madrid. Petrova will not be considered a prime contender at the French Open, so this loss won’t send shockwaves through the women’s tennis community.

The final one of these three upsets is the one that, believe it or not, makes a certain amount of sense for the vanquished victim. While it’s true that no top-10 player should be getting dusted in fairly convincing straight sets  (3 and 2, to be precise) at the hands of an unranked opponent, Kuznetsova–the sixth seed–has a legitimate reason: She’s fried. Brain dead. Mentally exhausted.

Need convincing on this specific point? Consider that Kuznetsova won the WTA event in Stuttgart on Sunday, May 3, and then had to turn around in just two days before playing the Italian Open in Rome, where the Kooze reached the final and lost to Dinara Safina. (Safina had lost to Kuznetsova in the Stuttgart final; Rome, then, marked revenge for the world No. 1.) If any upper-tier women’s player had a good excuse for an early exit in Madrid–an excuse that came from her own worn-down body–it was Kuznetsova. This impotent display against one of the tennis-playing Bondarenko sisters actually enables the Kooze to rest up for the French, and recuperate while her colleagues continue to pound away in the Spanish capital. A loss, believe it or not, could be the best thing to happen to Kuznetsova at The Magic Box.

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ATP Scoreboard – Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open – Wednesday’s Notable Matches

(1) Rafael Nadal d. Jurgen Melzer, 6-3, 6-1

(6) Andy Roddick d. Tommy Haas, 1-6, 7-6 (9), 6-4 (Roddick saved 2 match points in set two)

Juan Monaco d. (12) David Ferrer, 6-4, 6-4

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ATP Overview: Thursday’s featured matches

(1) Nadal vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber

(14) James Blake vs. (2) Roger Federer

(4) Andy Murray vs. (16) Tommy Robredo

(6) Andy Roddick vs. (10) Nikolay Davydenko

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