Italy's Tathiana Garbin earned a shock victory over second seed Nadia Petrova at the Australian women's hardcourt event.
Russian ousted in first round on the Gold Coast
Italy's Tathiana Garbin earned a shock victory over second seed Nadia Petrova in the first round of the Australian women's hardcourt event.
Petrova took the first set but was unable to maintain her momentum as Garbin fought back to win 5-7 7-5 6-3.
Garbin, who reached the semi-finals last year before retiring due to breathing difficulties, chased down everything as she got the better of the world number 14 with her superior court coverage.
"I feel like I didn't finish the tournament last year," said Garbin after her first win over Petrova in five attempts.
"To come back here and win this first round match was very tough because Nadia is one of the best players in the world. I'm proud of myself today."
Garbin appeared to be cruising to victory at 5-0 in the third set before a bout of nerves allowed Petrova to claw back to 5-3.
Composure
But the Italian regained her composure and finally sealed the win when Petrova netted a forehand.
"The key was to give her back every ball," Garbin said. "I ran so much today - three hours almost - I ran for everything."
Agnes Szavay, the Hungarian eighth seed, was beaten by Yuliana Fedak in her first round match.
Ukraine's Fedak only entered the main draw when Julia Vakulenko withdrew at the last minute and she fought back from a set down to win 3-6 7-5 6-2.
Defending champion Dinara Safina got the better of Jarmila Gajdosova despite a second set collapse, the third seed winning through 6-4 1-6 6-2.
Fourth seed Patty Schnyder won the only other match to be completed on a rain-interrupted day, beating Alisa Kleybanova 6-1 6-3.
