French Open champion Anastasia Myskina made a shock first-round exit
from the Sydney International Tuesday in a straight-sets defeat to Chinese
qualifier Peng Shuai.
Peng dominated the match to bundle
out the world number three and tournament second seed in
less than an hour, 6-1, 6-3.
Myskina, who earlier this week said she feared her hectic schedule would lead to burnout,
committed 33 unforced errors
to Peng's eight.
The Russian said she was caught
off guard by hot, blustery conditions and a determined
opponent.
"She was ready for a tough match and I wasn't," Myskina said.
Myskina said she was confident the early exit would not disrupt
preparations for next week's Australian Open, where she made the last two
quarter-finals.
"I have enough time to play a couple of practice matches, I
should be OK," she said.
Peng, who celebrated her 19th birthday three days ago, has jumped in
the rankings from 326 to 80 over the past 12 months.
Her victory capped a memorable two days for China's emerging tennis
players after Li Na, ranked number 76 in the latest rankings, ousted
American top seed and defending champion Amy Frazier from Tasmanian
International in the opening round in Hobart on Monday.
Australian Alicia Molik built on her strong finish to 2004 with a 7-6
(7/4), 6-1 victory over Italian Francesca Schiavone.
In other women's matches, Switzerland's seventh seed Patty Schnyder
survived an early scare to overcome Croatian Karolina Sprem 5-7, 6-2, 6-3
and Russian-born French teenager Tatiana Golovin downed eighth-seed Ai
Sugiyama of Japan 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-11 15:13
