Dementieva crashes out of Australian Open; Davenport through
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-16 10:10

MELBOURNE, Jan 16 (Reuters) - World number nine Elena Dementieva was the first seeded player to crash out of the Australian Open on Monday, losing 7-5 6-2 in the first round to Germany's Julia Schruff.

Dementieva, a former French and U.S. Open finalist, struggled from the outset and was quickly down 5-1 in the first set against the 23-year-old unranked German.

The ninth-seeded Russian fought back to 5-5 but lost the next two games to give Schruff the first set.

The 24-year-old Dementieva took a 10-minute break between sets but that failed to unsettle Schruff, who raced out to a 4-0 lead in the second set.

The German won her first match at the Australian Open after Dementieva hit a forehand into the net.

World number one Lindsay Davenport cruised into the second round of the Australian Open with an efficient 6-2 6-1 defeat of Australian Casey Dellacqua on Monday.

Davenport, runner-up in Melbourne last year, broke Dellacqua's service twice in each set to close out her first match in 57 minutes in oppressive conditions at Melbourne Park. The tall American dominated the match with a strong service game and then blasted an overhead smash past the outclassed Australian wild card entrant on the final point at Rod Laver Arena.

Top seed Davenport, who was beaten in last year's final by Serena Williams, remains on course for a quarter-final meeting with 10th seed Venus Williams or eighth seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium.