Malaysia misery for Li

Li Na suffered a shock exit in the first round of the Malaysia Classic when she was ousted by Tatjana Malek of Germany.

Second seed crashes out but Dementieva eases through

Li Na suffered a shock exit in the first round of the Malaysia Classic when she was ousted by Tatjana Malek of Germany. The second seed reached her first Grand Slam semi-final in Melbourne last month but struggled to contain 76th-ranked Malek in a 6-1 5-7 6-2 defeat. Li gave an erratic performance at the inaugural event in Kuala Lumpur and was broken twice as Malek raced through the first set. The Chinese hit back with a crucial second break of serve in the 12th game of the second set to force a decider, but Malek resumed her dominance to break three times on the way to success in exactly two hours. "I am really happy, I have never played Li but I know she is a good player," said Malek. "I opted for a different strategy to hit some high balls and slices. "I knew that to win I should not hit hard returns. My strategy worked." Li's compatriot and third seed Zheng Jie booked her place in the second round with a 6-4 6-3 victory over Russian Elena Bovina. Zheng had to battle hard with Bovina active in many rallies before coming through in an hour and 42 minutes. And there were no problems for the top seeded Elena Dementieva, who cruised past fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova 6-2 6-1. It was a pleasing return for Dementieva after she withdrew from last week's Dubai Championships with a shoulder injury.