Top players knocked out - HSBC Women's World Match Play 2007

Paula Creamer lingered on the 18th green to take one more look at her putting line. Still trying to figure out how her 10-foot birdie try failed to break to the left, she shook her head and punched the air in disgust.

Annika Sorenstam headed straight for the practice green, dazed by a tricky downhill birdie putt on No. 15 that rolled some 30 yards off the front of the green.

Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa looked at the bright side after her second-round loss Friday in the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship.

"I'm going to try not to think too much," Ochoa said. "I'll try to be positive and relax the next couple of days and get ready for the next few tournaments."

No. 5 Se Ri Pak and No. 7 Suzann Pettersen also dropped out Friday, leaving No. 10 Mi Hyun Kim as the top seed in the final 16.

"Seeds don't matter in this," said Meaghan Francella, the local favorite who knocked off Ochoa 1-up. "It's just how you're seeded in the beginning. I just went out there and played golf."

Maria Hjorth beat the eighth-seeded Creamer 1-up, with both blowing three-hole leads before the Swede won with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th. With wind gusts making club selection difficult on the hilly, tree-lined Wykagyl course, Creamer was 3-up after five, lost six of the next nine holes, then took 15, 16 and 17.

"I played OK in the beginning and then the middle kind of just fell apart," Creamer said. "She hits it so far and a lot of holes today were playing pretty long. So, it was like my 4-iron against her 9-iron, and that's kind of hard to do."

Hjorth won with a 5-footer after Creamer's 10-foot birdie try slid right.

"I thought I should have finished it off a little bit earlier," said Hjorth, seeded 40th. "All square coming down the last, you just have to forget about everything. It's just a one-hole playoff and you try to make the best out of it."

No. 35 Lindsey Wright beat Sorenstam 3 and 2.

"She didn't make many mistakes and rolled in some putts," Sorenstam said.

She fell three holes behind on 15 when her ball rolled down the hill -- twice.

"I don't know if I was going for a slam dunk, but I was trying to make it and it just took off on me a lot more than I expected, obviously," Sorenstam said.

She conceded the par-4 hole after her fourth shot rolled back down the large hill fronting the green, then holed a 50-footer for par on the par-5 16th before Wright ended the match with a short putt for a halve.

Putting first on 15, Wright had better pace on her fast birdie try.

"I was actually relieved that my putt stopped 3 feet below the hole," Wright said. "Because I couldn't believe it when hers rolled that far down the hill."

Making her fourth start since returning from disk injuries in her back and neck, Sorenstam also struggled Thursday in her 20-hole win over another Pepperdine-educated Australian, No. 62 Katherine Hull.

"Luckily, I feel good," Sorenstam said.

Wright is staying with Francella's family in Port Chester.

"I've known Meaghan for a few years," Wright said. "I met her dad and he's a character. Her mom's great. They've been really nice and supportive."

She'll face No. 14 Jeong Jang in the third round. Jang beat Angela Park 2 and 1.

Francella thrilled her large, vocal gallery with her victory over Ochoa, the 2006 Sybase Classic winner at Wykagyl.

"The whole day was pretty stressful, to be honest with you," Francella said. "I just tried to stay patient and hit one shot at a time."

In March in Mexico, Francella beat Sorenstam -- then the No. 1 player -- on the fourth hole of a playoff to win the MasterCard Classic for her first tour title.

"My hands were probably shaking more against Annika," Francella said. "I just felt pretty confident all day."

After losing the par-4 14th with a bogey, the 33rd-seeded Francella won 15 and 16 with pars to take a 1-up lead. They matched pars on the par-3 17th and Francella finished off Ochoa with a conceded birdie on 18.

"She's not afraid," Ochoa said. "You know, good for her."

Facing a blind second shot on 18, Francella hit a 3-wood onto the green.

"I just picked out a cloud," she said. "I didn't know where it went and then I heard the claps and I figured, `OK, we're at the front.' And then I got there and I'm like, `Unbelievable, 30 feet for eagle."'

Francella will play 17th-seeded Pat Hurst in the third round. Hurst beat 16th-seeded Stacy Prammanasudh 3 and 1.

No. 37 Christina Kim beat Pak 4 and 2 to set up a third-round match against No. 12 Ai Miyazato, a 4-and-2 winner over Sherri Steinhauer.

Hjorth will face Angela Stanford, with the survivor playing the Francella-Hurst winner in the quarterfinals. The 24th-seeded Stanford beat Hye Jung Choi 5 and 4.

Mi Hyun Kim will play Rachel Hetherington. The 39th-seeded Hetherington beat Pettersen, the LPGA Championship winner, 1-up.