No woman won more matches on tour in 2014 but Ana Ivanovic’s golden run came to a sudden end on day one of the Australian Open.
The popular fifth seed was considered a strong chance to challenge for her second grand slam title at Melbourne Park.
But Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka, who has never won a WTA event, spoiled the party with a 1-6 6-3 6-2 victory that left the Serb shocked and shattered.
Several other women’s seeds, including world No.9 Angelique Kerber, also fell on Monday.
Making Ivanovic’s loss tougher was her stated desire to improve her grand slam performances in 2015.
After falling at the first slam’s first hurdle, Ivanovic said she was unsure how she could bounce back.
“There’s no easy way, it has to hurt,” she said.
“It’s probably the worst thing that could happen, but still the year is young.
“I really felt good before the tournament started, I had a great week in Brisbane, the level was really high.
“But you just have to accept that you’re going to have tough days and you got to go through the tough days to improve.”
Ivanovic came to Melbourne Park on a wave of form.
Beaten only by top seed Maria Sharapova in the final of the lead-up event in Brisbane, Ivanovic fell apart against the world No.142.
The world No.5 coughed up 10 double-faults in the loss at Rod Laver Arena.
After romping through the first set, Ivanovic had no answer to Hradecka’s aggressive net play.
“The whole match I didn’t really feel like myself out there, it was really tough for me to find rhythm,” Ivanovic said.
Hradecka basked in her first Australian Open centre-court victory.
“It’s two hours after the match and I’m still smiling,” the 29-year-old said.
“On the big stadium, it was something new for me.
“For this moment, I don’t think about the next match. I’m just enjoying this moment.”
Ivanovic was joined on the Australian Open scrap heap by fellow seeds Kerber (9), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (23), Svetlana Kuznetsova (27), Sabine Lisicki (28) and Belinda Bencic (32).
Kerber fell to Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4 0-6 6-1 on Margaret Court Arena.
World No.3 Simona Halep headlined a winners’ list including 21st and 22nd seeds Peng Shuai and Karolina Pliskova.
The Romanian opened 2015 Open proceedings on centre court with a 6-3 6-2 defeat of Italian Karin Knapp in 88 minutes.
While she confessed to not hitting top gear, the 23-year-old said she was happy to progress.
“My forehand didn’t work very well today, but I’m sure next time I will play better,” Halep said.
Halep’s win set up a second-round match on Wednesday with in-form Australian Jarmila Gajdosova.
