Venus Crash Lands in Australia

Venus Williams' Australian Open campaign came to an abrupt halt after the 10th seed fell 6-2, 0-6, 7-9 to Bulgarian teenager Tszvetana Pironkova in the opening round.

Williams looked in control at the start of the match, taking a one-set lead before capitulating, thanks largely to 65 unforced errors.

Pironkova 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 battle of long rallies as neither player established an edge. The Bulgarian, playing her first-ever Grand Slam match, got the decisive break to take the match after an 86-minute marathon set.

Julia Schruff had caused the first major upset of the event with the German prematurely ending the title hopes of No9 seed Elena Dementieva 7-5, 6-2.

Schruff, who knocked Australian Jelena Dokic out of the first round at the ASB Classic in Auckland last week, was in fine form again.

Dementieva was at times her own worst enemy as she double faulted 12 times on her way to the shock loss.

Schruff now plays either Russia's Elena Vesnina or China's Ting Li.

Top-seed Lindsay Davenport 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.

Davenport will now meet either Ukraine's Alyona Bondarenko or Croatian Karolina Sprem in the second round.