20 Jan 2015

Ivanovic biggest shock exit so far in Melbourne

11:32 am on 20 January 2015

The Australian tennis Open is underway in Melbourne, with one big shock on the opening afternoon as Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka knocked out the fifth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia.

The world number 142, Hradecka belied her lowly ranking as she rallied to beat Ivanovic 1-6 6-3 6-2.

Ana Ivanovic

Ana Ivanovic Photo: Photosport

28th-seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany also lost in three sets to Kristina Mladenovic of France, and 27th-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova fell 6-4 6-2 to another Frenchwoman, Caroline Garcia.

German Julia Goerges also beat 32nd-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-1.

Third seed Simona Halep kicked off the centre court action with a routine straight sets win over Italian Karin Knapp, while Scottish sixth seed Andy Murray needed a tiebreak in the third set to beat India's Yukhi Bhambri 6-3 6-4 7-6.

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