The Australian Open has lost one of its brightest stars on day one, with former finalist Ana Ivanovic crashing to a shock first-round defeat.
Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka, who has never won a tour event, knocked out Ivanovic 1-6 6-3 6-2 to leave Ivanovic shocked and shattered.
Ivanovic won more matches on tour last year than any other player and came to Melbourne Park on a wave of form.
The Serb was beaten only by top seed Maria Sharapova in the final of the lead-up event in Brisbane, but fell apart against the world No.142.
The fifth seed 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 and unsettling net-rushing antics.
Hradecka was successful with 19 of her forays forward, breaking down the Serb’s game style.
“The whole match I didn’t really feel like myself out there, it was really tough for me to find rhythm,” she said.
After failing to make the last week in the final three grand slams in 2014, Ivanovic set herself the goal of improving in the four majors.
But after falling at the first hurdle of the first slam, Ivanovic said she was unsure how she could bounce back quickly.
“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 was joined on the Australian Open scrap heap by fellow seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova, Sabine Lisicki and Belinda Bencic.
World No.3 Simona Halep headlined a winners list including 21st and 22nd seeds Peng Shuai and Karolina Pliskova.
The Romanian opened 2015 proceedings on Rod Laver Arena 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.
“I feel good and I’m sure I’ll have my chance to win many more matches.”
Halep has set up a second-round match with in-form Australian Jarmila Gajdosova.
