<p>The Russian, dumped out of the US Open in the third round earlier this month, struggled from the start in her opening match against a player 131 places below her in the world rankings. <br /><br />French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova followed her compatriot out of the tournament. The fifth seed was upset 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 by Germany's Andrea Petkovic, also a qualifier.<br /><br />Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza crashed out with a first-round defeat in a marathon three setter against Chinese Jie Zheng.<br /><br />Sania, who had to qualify for the USD two million hard-court event, went down 7-5, 2-6, 3-6 after a contest lasting more than two hours.<br /><br />Sania, who has been plagued by a nagging wrist injury for more than a year now, fought hard in a see-saw opening set.<br /><br />She broke her rival thrice to go 1-0 up. However, Sania ran out of steam thereafter and lost her serve four times to go down 2-6 in the second set.<br /><br />The third set followed a similar script and the Indian was once again outplayed with her serve being a major let-down.<br /><br />Former Tokyo winner Maria Sharapova restored some pride for Russia, however, and gave the tournament sponsors some cheer with a battling 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Italy's Francesca Schiavone. <br /><br />Safina's ownership of the number one spot has been a source of contention following her failure to win a maiden grand slam in 2009. <br /><br />A brief holiday from tennis after her New York flop did not look to have helped the Russian, who got off to a poor start in Tokyo by losing the first set tiebreak 7-5. <br /><br />The Pan Pacific title holder, given a first-round bye at the $2 million tournament, rallied to take the second with a thumping backhand, pumping her fist and screeching "Come on!" <br />But after seizing an early break in the deciding set, Safina's nervousness resurfaced as she tamely surrendered her serve with a double-fault at 5-4 up. <br /><br />While Safina yelled at herself in Russian, the 18-year-old Chang kept her cool, completing the biggest win of her career by forcing Safina into wild forehand on her third match point. <br /><br />Earlier, Ai Sugiyama's final WTA Tour appearance ended prematurely when the Japanese player retired from her first-round match with Russian Nadia Petrova while trailing 6-0, 2-1.</p>
<p>The Russian, dumped out of the US Open in the third round earlier this month, struggled from the start in her opening match against a player 131 places below her in the world rankings. <br /><br />French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova followed her compatriot out of the tournament. The fifth seed was upset 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 by Germany's Andrea Petkovic, also a qualifier.<br /><br />Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza crashed out with a first-round defeat in a marathon three setter against Chinese Jie Zheng.<br /><br />Sania, who had to qualify for the USD two million hard-court event, went down 7-5, 2-6, 3-6 after a contest lasting more than two hours.<br /><br />Sania, who has been plagued by a nagging wrist injury for more than a year now, fought hard in a see-saw opening set.<br /><br />She broke her rival thrice to go 1-0 up. However, Sania ran out of steam thereafter and lost her serve four times to go down 2-6 in the second set.<br /><br />The third set followed a similar script and the Indian was once again outplayed with her serve being a major let-down.<br /><br />Former Tokyo winner Maria Sharapova restored some pride for Russia, however, and gave the tournament sponsors some cheer with a battling 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Italy's Francesca Schiavone. <br /><br />Safina's ownership of the number one spot has been a source of contention following her failure to win a maiden grand slam in 2009. <br /><br />A brief holiday from tennis after her New York flop did not look to have helped the Russian, who got off to a poor start in Tokyo by losing the first set tiebreak 7-5. <br /><br />The Pan Pacific title holder, given a first-round bye at the $2 million tournament, rallied to take the second with a thumping backhand, pumping her fist and screeching "Come on!" <br />But after seizing an early break in the deciding set, Safina's nervousness resurfaced as she tamely surrendered her serve with a double-fault at 5-4 up. <br /><br />While Safina yelled at herself in Russian, the 18-year-old Chang kept her cool, completing the biggest win of her career by forcing Safina into wild forehand on her third match point. <br /><br />Earlier, Ai Sugiyama's final WTA Tour appearance ended prematurely when the Japanese player retired from her first-round match with Russian Nadia Petrova while trailing 6-0, 2-1.</p>
