Defending champion and World Number Seven Venus Williams has been beaten by 18-year-old Russian, Daria Kasatkina in a three set thriller at the women's ASB Classic in Auckland.
Venus Williams st the 2016 ASB Classic Womens Photo: PhotoSport
After taking the first set 7-6, Williams then lost the following two sets 3-6, 3-6 to the junior French Open champion
Williams' unforced errors count was unusually high at 73 while Kasatkina only had 46.
The 35-year-old American will now head to Melbourne early for the first Grand Slam of the year the Australian Open while Kasatkina will face Nao Hibino in the second round of the ASB Classic.
In other matches today the third seed and last year's runner up Caroline Wozniacki had a little trouble of her own in the first round before beating Danka Kovinic 6-4, 6-4.
Wozniacki lost the first three games of the match as she struggled to find her rhythm.
There was no such trouble for Wozniacki's next opponent American Christina McHale who won her match against Japan's Misaki Doi 6-2, 6-4.
Fellow American Bethanie Mattek-Sands has been beaten by Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 6-3, 4-6,3-6.
