KEY POINTS:
To Moscow, in pain.
Anastasia Myskina's ill-starred opening match at the ASB Classic yesterday has had longer term repercussions with the former world No 2 last night pulling out of this month's Australian Open and flying home today.
The Classic second seed suffered a recurrence of a foot
injury which plagued her last year during her loss to Argentine Gisela Dulko.
It's a blow for the tournament, which had banked on the 2004 French Open champion being one of the big drawcards. But it's tougher for Myskina, who was unable to hide her frustration after the 6-1, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2 loss to the world No 59.
The injury to a bone underneath a toe hindered her movement. She was dreadful in the first set; lost her first four service games; had some fine moments in levelling in the second after receiving treatment, but Dulko was well worth the win.
Myskina paid credit to her 21-year-old opponent but was clearly upset by events, which have put a significant crimp in her plans to regain her place in the world top 10 this year.
"I tried to fight, because people came [to watch], and I flew two days to get here. I did my best, but there is a lot of pain," the world No 16 said.
In some instances it's hard to find visible evidence of how hard a surprise loser is feeling. Not so in Myskina's case. She was hurting.
Dulko was delighted that her vow to be more aggressive this year paid an early, spectacular dividend.
"The only [two] times we played she beat me, so today I had my revenge. This is very, very special," Dulko said.
Dulko hit some booming forehands and when she got to the net invariably got the right result.
"I took a month off, I was really tired but then I started working a lot on fitness and mentally. I practised for six weeks before coming here. That's why I feel prepared to play," Dulko, who lives 40 minutes outside Buenos Aires, said.
Myskina was not the only seed to fall on opening day of the US$145,000 ($206,000) Classic.
American Shenay Perry, seeded eighth, was removed by Frenchwoman Camille Pin in three sets.
Two other seeds were in action yesterday. Defending champion and No 4 seed Marion Bartoli had to get moving to subdue determined Japanese player Ayumi Morita 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
Morita, the world No 180, got in the tournament through winning a US$50,000 "feed up" tournament in Tokyo, designed to give winners of lower-tier events a hand up.
The 16-year-old looked a good prospect. She went toe to toe with Bartoli in the first set and led 3-0 in the second before falling over as Bartoli found her range.
And Greek No 7 seed Eleni Daniilidou got her bid for a third Classic crown under way with a three-set win over Croatian Jelena Kostanic, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
New Zealand's No 1 Marina Erakovic is first up on centre court today, against 2001 champion Meilen Tu. The American advanced from the Auckland qualifying tournament for the fourth time yesterday.
Erakovic is New Zealand's last singles representative after lefthander Leanne Baker folded 6-1, 6-1 to hard-hitting Chinese player Tiantian Sun.
"I'm not disappointed. It was a great opportunity but I still feel I'm playing well," she said.
She gets a second chance to prove that in the doubles tonight with Australian partner Nicole Kriz.
TODAY'S SCHEDULE
Centre court, from 11am: WC-M. Erakovic (NZ) v Q-M. Tu, followed by D. Cibulkova (Slovakia) v 3-D. Hantuchova (Slovakia), followed by 1-J. Jankovic (Serbia) v J. Schruff (Germany), followed by 5-V. Zvonareva (Russia) v Q-L. Osterloh (US), followed by, but not before 7pm, J. Craybas (US) v G. Dulko (Argentina), followed by L. Baker (NZ)/N. Kriz (Australia) v M. Domachowska (Poland)/J. Kostanic (Croatia).
Court 4, from 11am: Q-V. Razzano (Italy) v K. Kanepi (Estonia), followed by 6-M. Muller (Germany) v P. Suarez (Argentina), followed by R. Oprandi (Italy) v L. Granville (US), followed by 3-E. Daniilidou (Greece)/J. Woehr (Germany) v Chin-Wei Chan (Taipei)/V. Uhlirova (Czech Republic).
Court 6, from 11am: LL-M. Johansson (France) v E. Laine (Finland), followed by Q-Y. Meusburger (Austria) v E. Bychkova (Russia), followed by E. Loit (France)/A. Szavay (Hungary) v Chunmei Li/Ting Li (China), followed by, but not before 4pm, Shengnan Sun/Tiantian Sun (China) v Oprandi/Schruff.