Tennis: Erakovic bundled out of Australian Open

Marina Erakovic's racket in action during her first round loss to France's Alize Cornet yesterday. Photo / Brett Phibbs

16th seeded Li Na of China has defeated New Zealand's Marina Erakovic in straight sets 6-2, 6-0 in their first round womens singles clash at the Australian Open.

The loss comes after Erakovic's first round exit from the ASB Classic in Auckland earlier in the month.

Meanwhile, French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has advanced to the third round of the tournament after beating fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening match of the day on Rod Laver Arena 6-2, 6-2.

MATCH UPDATES - ERAKOVIC v LI

2.08pm
That's it for her involvement in the womens singles at Melbourne, but Marina Erakovic is still in the Open, in the womens doubles. Her partner is Australian Casey Dellacqua, and the pair have drawn the 11th seeds, two Russians, in the first round.

2.06pm
One of the telling stats from the match was in first-serve percentages. For Erakovic it was just 56 per cent, while her higher-ranked opponent hit 78 per cent of first serves in play.

2.02pm
That's it. In just 50 minutes, Li Na wins 6-2, 6-0.

2.00pm
An injury-plagued 2009, during which she spent March to October on the sidelines because of a hip problem, has not been the ideal preparation for Erakovic's summer of tennis. Down 5-0 now.

1.56pm
It appears the writing is on the wall. Erakovic's serve is broken for a second time this set. Li Na now leads 4-0 in the second set.

1.50pm
Marina will have to so something - and in a hurry - to turn things around. Momentum stays with the Chinese 16th seed, as she races out to a 3-0 lead in the second set.

1.40pm
Li Na again breaks the New Zealander's serve to take out the first set 6 games to 2.

1.36pm
5-2 to Li Na now. Statistics in the first set are fairly even. Li Na has made more unforced errors (8 compared with 4 for the NZer), but also hit more clean winners (11) than Erakovic (8).

1.25pm
Not a good start for Erakovic. The Chinese star has raced out to a 4-nil lead in the first set.

12.55pm
Erakovic and Li begin their warm-up on Court 6 at Melbourne Park. It's a fine day In Melbourne, with the temperature a moderate 20 degrees, ensuring player comfort levels will be good.

12.45pm
New Zealand tennis No 2 Marina Erakovic is playing 16th seed Li Na of China in the first round of the womens singles at the Australian Open.

Erakovic, who has played only a few tournaments in the past 12 months thanks to a number of injuries, earlier in the week said Li Na was still "very beatable" despite being ranked inside the top 20.

"I feel fine", said the 21-year-old New Zealander. "It's always tough with the draws - whoever I get, I get."

Erakovic reached the second round of singles at the tournament in Melbourne last year.

"You want to win - the mindset is to win. She is a good player and has had good results, although the last couple of weeks for her haven't been that great. So I'll just see what happens."

"She definitely likes to play off the back and is very solid and moves well. I definitely have to be aggressive against her."

Erakovic has a current WTA ranking of 256 but is using her injury protected ranking of 83 to gain entry into the Open.

Erakovic was beaten in the first round of the recent ASB Classic in Auckland by Frenchwoman Alize Cornet while Li Na was dumped out of the tournament by Kaia Kanepi, also in the first round.

It is her second year in the main draw of the Australian Open. Last year she beat Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic in the first round before losing in three sets to another Czech, Lucie Safarova.

Li, the 16th seed for the Australian Open, this week beat world number four Caroline Wozniacki in the first round at Sydney before losing to Italian Flavia Pannetta.

Should Erakovic win she will play either Stephanie Dubois of Canada or Agnes Szavay of Hungary in the second round.