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Australian Open 2016: Caroline Wozniacki beaten in first round

By Andy Charles

Monday 18 January 2016 08:29, UK

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 18: Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark plays a forehand in her first round match against Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan during d
Image: Caroline Wozniacki is out of the Australian Open

Former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki was the most prominent seed to crash out on the opening day of the Australian Open women's singles in Melbourne.

The Danish star, seeded 16 for the first Grand Slam of the year, took the opening set against Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva but was unable to put her opponent away and eventually crashed out 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 in a stamina-sapping match that lasted more than three hours.

Putintseva's baseline game began to trouble Wozniacki in the second set and long rallies in humid conditions made life tough for the season-ending 2010 and 2011 world No 1.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 18: Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan celebrates winning her first round match against Caroline Wozniacki
Image: Yulia Putintseva celebrates her win over Caroline Wozniacki

A series of mistakes in the third set would condemn her to defeat and leave Wozniacki still without a title in 35 Grand Slam attempts.

"I can't believe I won the match," said 21-year-old Putintseva. "I was very nervous in the first set because I am not used to playing on such a big court. But then I got a bit more used to it."

There was also disappointment for former Melbourne semi-finalist Sloane Stephens, whose tournament came to a meek end in a 6-3 6-3 defeat at the hands of Chinese qualifier Wang Qiang.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 18: Qiang Wang of China plays a forehand in her first round match against Sloane Stephens of the United States during day o
Image: Wang Qiang claimed one of her biggest wins, beating Sloane Stephens

Stephens won a warm-up tournament in Auckland earlier this month, but racked up 36 unforced errors as 102nd-ranked Wang made it into the second round.

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"She's a good player and I watched her match before so I know her a little bit and I just tried," Wang said. "It was my first time at Hisense Arena so I was a little bit nervous."

Sara Errani also made an early exit in Melbourne, with the 17th seed being beaten 1-6 7-5 6-1 by Russia's Margarita Gasparyan.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 18: Margarita Gasparyan of Russia plays a backhand in her first round match against Sara Errani of Italy during day one of
Image: Margarita Gasparyan knocked out 17th seed Sara Errani

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, seeded 26th, crashed out 1-6 6-3 6-4 to America's Lauren Davis and 27th seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova lost 6-3 6-3 to Darya Kasatkina of Russia.

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska had few problems in securing a second round berth, overcoming a potentially tough challenge with ease as she beat America's Christina McHale 6-2 6-3.

Petra Kvitova, seeded six, eased past Thailand's Luksika Kumkhum 6-3 6-1 and there were also straight sets wins for 10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro, 12th seed Belinda Bencic and 13th seed Roberta Vinci.

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