Another seed has fallen on a day of first round upsets at the Brisbane International.
Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi has held out fifth-seeded German Andrea Petkovic 6-4 5-7 6-4 in a two and a half hour epic at Pat Rafter Arena on Sunday.
But the boilover of the tournament to date came earlier when wildcard “Aussie” Ajla Tomljanovic stormed to a 7-6 (8-6) 6-0 win over sixth seed and former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic.
However, Spanish seventh seed Carla Suarez Navarro bucked the trend when she overcame an early hiccup to down Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova 3-6 6-2 6-1.
World No.51 Kanepi will hope history repeats after her victory over the in-form Petkovic, ranked 38 places higher than the Estonian.
Kanepi, 29, downed ex-French Open semi-finalist Petkovic in the quarter-finals on her way to claiming the 2012 Brisbane International crown.
Local fans no doubt looked forward to crowd favourite and 2011 Brisbane runner-up Petkovic launching into her trademark post-match victory dance on Sunday.
Especially after the German won the season-ending WTA Tournament of Champions in Bulgaria, capping a year in which she reached her first grand slam semi-final at Roland Garros.
But former world No.15 Kanepi showed she was ready to launch a return to the top 20 with a stirring win, extending her record over Petkovic to 3-0.
Earlier, the hard-hitting Tomljanovic overcame early resistance to finally roll former US Open finalist Jankovic in 105 minutes.
Technically world No.62, Tomljanovic will fly the Croatian flag at Women’s Tennis Association events until she officially gains Australian citizenship, expected to be in the coming months.
However, the ex-world No.4 junior has been recognised as Australian at grand slams under world body ITF since last August’s US Open.
And she was embraced by locals at her first “home” tournament on Sunday since moving to Brisbane just months ago on the advice of coach Dave Taylor, the man who helped steer Sam Stosur to 2011 US Open success.
Tomljanovic was born in Croatia but left for Florida when her family relocated at the age of 12.
She opted to move to Brisbane after being told by Taylor – her coach since late 2013 – that it had the best training facilities.
The upset win over the Serb extended a promising run for the once injury-plagued Tomljanovic who had her best year to date in 2014, including a fourth round French Open appearance.
Meanwhile, another budding Aussie Daria Gavrilova qualified for the main draw with a 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 win over Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova on Sunday.
Gavrilova – the partner of ex-world junior No.1 Luke Saville – will represent Australia at grand slam events but flies the Russian flag at WTA tournaments until she officially changes allegiances.
Sam Stosur will play American Varvara Lepchenko in the opening round later on Sunday.
