Jankovic downed by Stavay in Sydney

Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic suffered a shock first-round defeat in the Medibank International in Sydney, losing to Hungary's Agnes Szavay.

The Serbian, ranked eighth in the world, will be hoping for much better at the Australian Open starting next week after world number 40 Szavay triumphed 5-7 6-1 7-5 in a match lasting two hours and 37 minutes.

Fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki was also dumped out at the first hurdle by China's Na Li, who beat the Dane 2-6 6-3 6-2 while eighth seed Vera Zvonareva was forced to quit her match against fellow Russian Elena Vesnina at 3-3 in the first set.

Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm caused another shock as she knocked out world number 20 Nadia Petrova 6-3 5-7 6-4. The 39-year-old rolled back the years and demonstrated her stamina in a match lasting two hours and 14 minutes.

Home favourite Samantha Stosur lost 6-3 6-1 to Italy's Flavia Pennetta and world number 10 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat American qualifier Jill Craybas 6-0 6-4.

Sixth seed Victoria Azarenka from Belarus overcame Germany's Sabine Lisicki 3-6 6-2 7-5.

In the men's event, Richard Gasquet continued his build-up to the Australian Open with a straightforward 6-1 6-4 first-round victory over Feliciano Lopez.

World number 53 Gasquet, who lost to eventual winner Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International last week and reached the semi-finals here last year, saved all three break points he faced en route to his win.

"It's for sure a good start, because Lopez is a great player, and he has a great serve," Gasquet said.

"I played well last year with a semi-final in this tournament, so I'm happy to be here and to win the first match."

Marcos Baghdatis beat Australian wild card Nick Lindahl 6-2 7-5, but the 2006 Australian Open finalist from Cyprus admitted: "I didn't serve very well. I had a low percentage on first serve; I wasn't feeling too good on serve, but felt good at the baseline."

Andreas Seppi set up a meeting with fourth seed and home favourite Lleyton Hewitt with a 6-4 6-4 win over local qualifier Marinko Matosevic while French star Gael Monfils has been forced to pull out of this event with a right shoulder injury and could be a doubt for the season's first grand slam in Melbourne.

Qualifier Leonardo Mayer of Argentina edged past seventh seed Igor Andreev 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 7-6 (7-4).