Top seed Elena Dementieva had to survive an early assault from Taiwan's Jung-Jan Chan to book her place in the second round against Marina Erakovic today.
The world No 4 was blown off the court in the opening exchanges by a player ranked 63 places below her, raisingthe prospect of the tournament's drawcard making an early exit.
Dementieva had no answer to Chan's blistering groundstrokes as she slumped to a 5-1 deficit in the first set. But the classy Russian found her feet and reeled off nine straight games to turn the set and the match around, eventually winning 7-5, 6-3.
"It was not about me in the beginning," Dementieva said. "She was playing really well, too fast for me. I was a little too slow and couldn't react.
"It took me a while to get into the game but I was trying to stay positive because she was on fire in the beginning.
"I was trying just to stay in the match, to fight for every single ball."
Chan's early success provided a glimmer of hope for Kiwi No 1 Erakovic, who takes on Dementieva today. However, the lasting impression from the contest was the Russian's class and composure.
Erakovic's best hope lies in her superior serve. She will need to keep the points short and avoid rallying with Dementieva, whose ball striking is of the highest calibre.
