BRISBANE — Caroline Wozniacki's first trip to the Brisbane International ended in a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) first-round loss to Kazakhstan qualifier Ksenia Pervak Monday. She quickly followed up by dismissing speculation about an engagement to golf No. 1 Rory McIlroy. Wozniacki had high-profile support from McIlroy in the crowd and there was a buzz around Pat Rafter Arena amid rumors the pair had become engaged in the off-season. The 22-year-old Danish player was photographed with a new ring on her left hand as she arrived in Australia last week, sparking speculation of pending nuptials. She explained Monday that the ring was a gift. “It was a Christmas present and it fit on this finger and I put it on, and all of a sudden I hear that I'm engaged. But I'm not,” she said. “So, yeah, it's already twice we've had to shut down engagement rumors. Don't worry, we will let you know if that time happens!” No. 9-ranked Samantha Stosur was also upset in a night match, losing 7-6 (4), 7-5 to No. 41 Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden to continue her run of poor form in her native Australia since winning the 2011 US Open. Stosur lost her second match at the Brisbane tournament last year, then had back-to-back first-round losses at the Sydney International and the Australian Open. With eight of the top 10 women in the draw, the Brisbane tournament was expected to provide a good chance to fine-tune for the Australian Open starting Jan. 14. Now Wozniacki and Stosur will head to Sydney hoping for some decent match practice. In other first-round matches, fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany opened with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over Anna Tatishvili of Georgia, French Open finalist Sara Errani beat Russia's Olga Puchkova 6-1, 6-3 and American Sloane Stephens beat Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-3. Alize Cornet of France advanced to a second-round match against third-seeded Serena Williams with an opening 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 over Australian qualifier Bojana Bobusic, and Germany's Sabine Lisicki opened with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic to set up a second-round match against top-ranked Victoria Azarenka. In the men's draw, fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan beat Australia's Marinko Matosevic 7-5, 6-2; sixth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany beat Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-4, 6-4; Jarkko Nieminen of Finland had a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 win over Julien Benneteau of France; and Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist, defeated Australian wildcard entry Ben Mitchell 6-4, 6-4. Soeda thru In Chennai, Go Soeda of Japan breezed through the first round of the $430,000 ATP Chennai Open with an easy win over Evgeny Donskoy of Russia Monday. Soeda brushed aside the 21-year-old Russian 6-1, 6-2 in an hour on the center court of the Nungambakkam Tennis Center. Robin Haas, the sixth-seeded Dutchman, faced unexpected resistance from Indian wildcard Yuki Bhambri before winning 7-5, 6-3. Haas' second round opponent will be Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, who defeated Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 6-2. In the last match of the night, Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France outwitted 21-year-old Russain Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4. Zheng, Kuznetsova fall In Auckland, former world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova stumbled to a three-set loss to unseeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the first round of the ASB Tennis Classic Monday. The two-time Grand Slam winner won the first set in a tiebreaker, but struggled in windy conditions before losing 7-6 (6), 6-2, 7-5 in 2-1/2 hours. Unseeded American Jamie Hampton ousted defending champion Zheng Jie of China 7-5, 6-1 in 79 minutes and Pauline Parmentier of France beat seventh-seeded Christina McHale 6-4, 6-1 in the day's other upsets. — Agencies
