Australian Open: Was a Bit Lost, Says Ana Ivanovic After Shock Exit

Fifth seed Ana Ivanovic admitted she felt "lost" on court at the Australian Open on Monday as unheralded Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka handed her a humiliating first-round defeat.

The Serbian former world number one struggled to explain how she blew a strong lead to lose 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to a player ranked 137 places beneath her at number 142 in the world.

"It's really disappointing. It's probably the worst thing could happen," Ivanovic said after the first major upset at this year's season-opening Grand Slam.

The loss threatens to derail her plans to rebuild a career that has stalled since she won the French Open as a 20-year-old in 2008.

Now 27, she had intended to use this year's tournament at Melbourne Park to signal that she is once again a Grand Slam contender after breaking back into the top five last year.

Ivanovic is a perennial crowd favourite in Australia, where she has family, making the venue she describes as her "second home" the ideal place to resurrect her big match credentials.

Instead her plans fell apart as Hradecka recovered from a poor start to take the attack to her more fancied opponent, with Ivanovic admitting there was nowhere to hide on centre court as her cheer squad looked on in shocked silence.

"I really struggled to find my rhythm today, I was just a little bit lost," she said.

Ivanovic looked on course for an easy victory when she raced away with the first set in just 21 minutes, breaking Hradecka three times in the process.

But she went down 3-0 in the second after conceding an early break, managing to get back to 3-4 before Hradecka broke her again to force a deciding set.

Hradecka, who won a silver medal in doubles at the London Olympics and has three Grand Slam doubles titles, showed no signs of being intimidated, continually wrong-footing Ivanovic as she attacked the net.

The 29-year-old went up a break in the third game of the final set then maintained the pressure to snatch another break in the seventh and make it 5-2.

Hradecka fired down an ace to bring up two match points at the death, screaming with delight as Ivanovic blasted the second into the net.

-'Back on the horse'-

The defeat will again raise questions about Ivanovic's temperament but she said lack of practice, not nerves, played a major role in the result.

"There's always nerves in the beginning (of a Grand Slam) but I felt like I was maybe lacking a little bit practice this week," she said.

"I had some issues but I still played okay in the beginning. Just I felt second and third set I really dropped my level."

She said the defeat hurt but insisted "the year is young" and she could recover.

"There is no easy way to do that but to get back on the horse and back working really hard and try to see the next challenge and next event," she said.

Hradecka, who will face Polona Hercog of Slovenia in the second round, was still pinching herself after claiming the biggest scalp of her career.

"I was so nervous in the beginning and at the end, my hands were shaking," she said.

It is not the first time Hradecka has proved an irritant to Ivanovic, with the Czech taking her to three sets in the opening round of Wimbledon in 2009, only to let victory slip away when she squandered two match points.

"I'm so happy that I did it this time," she said.