Australian Open Round-up: Venus Williams' Australian Open campaign came to an abrupt halt with the 10th seed falling 2-6 6-0 9-7 to Bulgarian teenager Tszvetana Pironkova in the opening round.
The 2003 runner-up capitulated, despite a positive start, after amassing a vast 65 unforced errors. Williams looked in control at the start of the match, hitting her way to a one-set lead.
However, Pironkova soon wrestled her way back into the contest and had no trouble dispatching her opponent's usually tough service game on the way to levelling the match. The deciding set then shaped into a raging battle as neither player could get the edge as long rallies ensued.
The Bulgarian, playing her first-ever Grand Slam match, took the edge and at one point was serving for the match before Williams rallied her way back into the contest. But the 18-year-old got the decisive break to take the match after an 86-minute marathon set.
Julia Schruff also caused a bug upset, ending the title hopes of number nine seed Elena Dementieva, 7-5 6-2. With her notorious serve misfiring once again, Dementieva was at times her own worst enemy as she double faulted 12 times on her way to the shock loss.
There were no such problems for top seed Lindsay Davenport who opened her campaign with an easy 6-2 6-1 victory over the host country's Casey Dellacqua. The towering American turned in a somewhat rusty performance but still wasted little time as she romped home in two sets.
Maria Sharapova, seeded four, won by the same scoreline but produced a more impressive display. The former Wimbledon champion looked in good nick as she saw off Sandra Kloesel.
Fellow title hopeful Justine Henin-Hardenne was another 6-2 6-1 winner against Poland's Marta Domachowska. She held serve throughout and will next face Hana Sromova.
Sixth seed Nadia Petrova also enjoyed smooth progress, beating home hope Sophie Ferguson, also by a 6-2 6-1 scoreline. Former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 14th seed, was also an easy winner, but seeds to fall were Tatiana Golovin (24), Ai Sugiyama (26) and Ana Medina Garrigues (28), beaten by Mara Santangelo, Conchita Martinez Garandos and Zuzana Ondraskova respectively.
There was also defeat for former world number four Jelena Dokic. Playing at the event for the first time in five years, the Serbian-born Australian held two match points - losing one on a disputed line call - in the second set against Virginie Razzano before losing 3-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-1.
In the men's singles, Argentine David Nalbandian survived a major scare to defeat Thailand's Danai Udomchoke 6-2 6-2 1-6 6-7 (4/7) 6-1. The qualifier proved a gutsy opponent for the fourth seed but experience and skill prevailed at the end of the marathon battle.
Several other top seeds eased through.
Big-serving Ivan Ljubicic (7) saw off a determined challenge from home player Chris Guccione, winning in straight sets, while Gaston Gaudio, seeded eight, progressed when Razvan Sabau pulled out during the second set of their clash having dropped the first.
In-form Robby Ginepri (13), a semi-finalist at last year's US Open, thrashed Jurgen Melzer 6-1 6-4 6-2, while David Ferrer (11) was a four-set victor against Florent Serra, who recently won on the ATP Tour in Adelaide.
Mario Ancic and James Blake, both regarded as dark horses by many in the bottom half of the draw, each won in four sets, but another danger, Taylor Dent, bowed out. The 27th seed suffered a surprise defeat to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Garcia-Lopez beat fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya in the first round 12 months ago. This year, Moya bowed out at the same stage, fighting back from two sets down before losing a five-set thriller to Andrei Pavel. Meanwhile, the 2003 runner-up Rainer Schuettler was beaten by fellow German Lars Burgsmuller.