Three seeds out of tournament in Sydney

SYDNEY, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- No. 4-seeded Carolina Wozniacki and seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic were ousted Monday in the first round of the $600,000 Medibank International in Sydney.

Wozniacki fell to Li Na 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 and Agnes Szavay knocked off Jankovic 5-7, 6-1, 7-5. The tournament, which features eight of the top nine ranked women players, also lost eighth-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who withdrew with an ankle injury while tied 3-3 with Elena Vesnina.

Sixth-seeded Victoria Azarenka was the only seeded player to win Monday and she was pushed by Sabine Lisicki before prevailing 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in a two-hour match.

Also Monday, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez topped Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 6-3; Vera Dushevina beat Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 6-2; Flavia Pennetta defeated Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-1; Aravane Rezai survived a 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-2 match against Anna-Lena Groenefeld; Kimiko Date Krumm advanced 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 over Nadia Petrova; Dominika Cibulkova beat Timea Bacsinszky 7-6 (7-2), 6-1; and Agnieszka Radwanska took out Jill Craybas 6-0, 6-4.

World No. 1 Serena Williams and the No. 2-ranked Dinara Safina, both given first-round byes, begin their tournament play Tuesday.

The tournament is a final tune-up ahead of the Australian Open, which begins next Monday.