Venus Williams tumbled out of the Australian Open first round on Monday, a shock victim of little-known Bulgarian Tszvetana Pironkova.
The 18-year-old from Provdiv stunned Wimbledon champion Williams 2-6, 6-0, 9-7, condemning her to her earliest grand slam exit since being bundled out of the 2001 French Open in the opening round.
"I just couldn't pull my game together. I don't know what happened," a dejected Williams said at a news conference.
"I was in good form but I just somehow fell off."
Tenth seed Williams was one of five seeded women to lose on an action-packed opening day at Melbourne Park.
Ninth seed Elena Dementieva, a former French and U.S. Open finalist, lost 7-5, 6-2 to Germany's Julia Schruff. Tatiana Golovin, seeded 24, was beaten by Mara Santangelo 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Asia's highest ranked player, 26th seed Ai Sugiyama, fell to Conchita Martinez Granados 6-4, 6-3 and 28th seed Anabel Medina Garrigues lost to Zuzana Ondraskova 6-3, 6-4.
In the men's section, big-serving American Taylor Dent, the 27th seed, was beaten 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez while 32nd seed and former world number one Carlos Moya lost 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 4-6 to Andrei Pavel of Romania.
MASTERS CHAMPION
Argentina's Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian, one of just four men to beat Roger Federer last year, survived a tough scrap with Thai qualifier Danai Udomchoke to win 6-2, 6-2 ,1-6, 6-7, 6-1 while his Davis Cup team mate, eighth seed Gaston Gaudio, had a much easier time against Razvan Sabau, strolling into the second round when the injured Romanian pulled out in the second set.
"It's not the best way to start but it's good always to win, the score doesn't matter," Nalbandian said.
World number one Lindsay Davenport had a short first day, crushing Australian wildcard Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 6-1 in less than an hour, while Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin-Hardenne also made light work of their opponents.
"I feel like I'm ready for the challenges," said Davenport, Australian Open in 2000 and runner-up to Serena Williams 12 months ago.
Sharapova showed few signs of the shoulder injury that threatened to wreck her campaign as she breezed to a 6-2 ,6-1 first-round win over Sandra Kloesel while 2004 Australian Open champion Henin-Hardenne beat Marta Domachowska 6-2, 6-1.
"That's one of the first times I played a match without feeling anything," Sharapova said.
SELF-IMPOSED EXILE
"I don't expect it to be that like for the whole tournament so I'm very happy I got through that one without any pain."
Pironkova, playing in her first grand slam match, showed no sign of nerves or being intimated by the power of Venus Williams, frustrating her opponent by tenaciously running down every shot she played.
"I have know (about) Venus for a long time from the TV when I was a little kid," Pironkova said. "I always loved her game.
"But when you go on court I am a professional player, so I should not think about that she was kind of my idol before."
Jelena Dokic's return to the Australian Open ended in disappointment when she was knocked out by Virginie Razzano 3-6, 7-6, 6-1.
Back in Australia after five years of self-imposed exile, Dokic squandered two match points before losing the second set and Frenchwoman Razzano went on to control the deciding third set, but said she had no regrets.
"I couldn't have asked for anything else. It was a great decision to come back," Dokic said.
