KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)—Li Na has been ousted from the Malaysian Open, losing 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 to Tatjana Malek of Germany in the first round.
The second-seeded Li became China's first top-10 woman after reaching the Australian Open semifinals. She broke Malek in all three chances she had on Tuesday, but lost her own serve six times.
Top-seeded Elena Dementieva cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over fellow Russian Ekaterina Bychkova. Dementieva will next play Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia at Kuala Lumpur's Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort.
Also, third-seeded Zheng Jie of China beat Elena Bovina of Russia 6-4, 6-3 and former world junior No. 1 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand defeated Ksenia Pervak of Russia 6-1, 6-4.