<p>Caroline Wozniacki's preparations for the Australian Open were in tatters on Monday after she was bundled out of the Brisbane International by Kazakhstan's World No 103 Ksenia Pervak.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Wozniacki's defeat completed a disastrous 12 months in which the Dane relinquished the No 1 ranking and failed to threaten at any of the major championships.<br /><br />The World No 10 started strongly but wilted as Pervak, a 21-year-old qualifier on the comeback trail from a serious pelvic injury, committed 61 unforced errors but still <br />completed a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) victory for her first win against a top 10 player.<br /><br />“Had a lot of long rallies and a lot of even games, and it just didn't go my way,” she said.<br /><br />Wozniacki said knee troubles had hampered her during the year. Sporting a ring on her wedding finger, she downplayed speculation she was engaged to the golfer Rory McIlroy, who was among the spectators on Monday.<br /><br />“It was a Christmas present and it fit on this finger,” she said. “I put it on, and all of a sudden I hear that I'm engaged. I'm not. <br /><br />It's already twice we've had to shut down engagement rumours. Don't worry, we will let you know if that time happens. We're just taking one day at a time.”<br /><br />Pervak said she was reaping the benefits of strenuous off-season work following her recovery from injury.<br /><br />“I had a stress fracture of my pelvis bone,” she said. “It was pretty hard because you cannot really put anything to hold it because you still need to walk.<br /><br />Kuznetsova out<br /><br />Defending champion Zheng Jie and former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova were knocked out of the Auckland Classic in the first round on Monday.<br /><br />Zheng raced to a 3-0 lead before losing 13 of the next 16 games to go down 7-5, 6-1 to American Jamie Hampton.<br /><br />Kuznetsova, returning from a knee injury, lost 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5 to unseeded Dutch player Kiki Bertens.<br /></p>
<p>Caroline Wozniacki's preparations for the Australian Open were in tatters on Monday after she was bundled out of the Brisbane International by Kazakhstan's World No 103 Ksenia Pervak.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Wozniacki's defeat completed a disastrous 12 months in which the Dane relinquished the No 1 ranking and failed to threaten at any of the major championships.<br /><br />The World No 10 started strongly but wilted as Pervak, a 21-year-old qualifier on the comeback trail from a serious pelvic injury, committed 61 unforced errors but still <br />completed a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) victory for her first win against a top 10 player.<br /><br />“Had a lot of long rallies and a lot of even games, and it just didn't go my way,” she said.<br /><br />Wozniacki said knee troubles had hampered her during the year. Sporting a ring on her wedding finger, she downplayed speculation she was engaged to the golfer Rory McIlroy, who was among the spectators on Monday.<br /><br />“It was a Christmas present and it fit on this finger,” she said. “I put it on, and all of a sudden I hear that I'm engaged. I'm not. <br /><br />It's already twice we've had to shut down engagement rumours. Don't worry, we will let you know if that time happens. We're just taking one day at a time.”<br /><br />Pervak said she was reaping the benefits of strenuous off-season work following her recovery from injury.<br /><br />“I had a stress fracture of my pelvis bone,” she said. “It was pretty hard because you cannot really put anything to hold it because you still need to walk.<br /><br />Kuznetsova out<br /><br />Defending champion Zheng Jie and former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova were knocked out of the Auckland Classic in the first round on Monday.<br /><br />Zheng raced to a 3-0 lead before losing 13 of the next 16 games to go down 7-5, 6-1 to American Jamie Hampton.<br /><br />Kuznetsova, returning from a knee injury, lost 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 7-5 to unseeded Dutch player Kiki Bertens.<br /></p>