SYDNEY, Australia - The upset bug bit some of the marquee names at the Medibank International Sydney on Monday. Caroline Wozniacki was among the victims, falling to Li Na in a topsy-turvy three-setter.
Watch live tennis from Sydney this week on TennisTV.com!
Wozniacki, ranked a career-high No.4 and the No.4 seed at the first Premier-level event of the year, started strongly against the No.17-ranked Li, taking the first set, 6-2, in just 33 minutes; she even broke for 3-2 in the second set but from there it was all Li, who won 10 of the next 12 games for a 26 63 62 victory.
"I didn't play my best today. I didn't feel as comfortable as I thought I would and she played well. She was just better than me today," Wozniacki said. "I'm just going to go to Melbourne, practice there and try to prepare as well as possible. I really feel positive about this year. Hopefully it'll be a good one for me."
Other seeds going down were No.7 seed Jelena Jankovic, who served for her match at 5-4 in the third set but fell to Agnes Szavay, 57 61 75, and No.8 seed Vera Zvonareva, who retired against Elena Vesnina with a right ankle injury.
"It was my first match of the season. I hadn't played her in a long time. I also hadn't competed in two months," Jankovic said. "I have to clean up some things in my game. I need to stay positive. I hope I'll be ready for Melbourne."
Check out photos from Sydney in the Sydney Gallery!
Other winners as the first round came to a close were Agnieszka Radwanska, Flavia Pennetta, Aravane Rezai, Dominika Cibulkova, María José Martínez Sánchez, qualifier Vera Dushevina and Kimiko Date Krumm. Date Krumm, a qualifier, edged Nadia Petrova in two hours and 14 minutes, 63 57 64; it was the second Top 20 win of her recent comeback to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, following a win over Virginie Razzano last week in Auckland.
Pennetta ended the Sydney hopes of Australia's own Samantha Stosur, bursting out to a 4-0 lead and barely looking back to win, 63 61.
"Obviously it's not the ideal way to go into Melbourne, but I can't think of it as the end of the world either. I've still got a week to prepare and find my game," Stosur said to the press afterwards. "In patches, I hit the ball well and played well. I'll just go out there and practice, and try and play a few practice matches. I want to put in a few really good days and then go to Melbourne."
In Monday's last match, No.6 seed Victoria Azarenka rallied from a set down and eventually 3-5 in the third set to beat Sabine Lisicki, 36 62 75. Lisicki hit an impressive 11 aces in the match but was broken seven times, two more times than she broke Azarenka, who had just one ace in the match.
