News

It was the first time in five appearances at the tournament that she had not progressed past the opening round.

 "I wish I could say my preparation wasn''t good, but it was good," she reflected. "I wish I could say I had a long injury, but its behind me now.

"I felt I did let [the fans] down. When you are at home, you want to play well and when you don''t, it sucks.

"I had a tough day at the office, but I have to move on."

In her first WTA singles match since returning from an 11-month injury break, Erakovic (21) struggled with service throughout the 6-4 6-3 defeat, presenting Cornet with nine chances to break serve. In the end, that proved just too many to battle back from.

By contrast, she could hardly make a dent in her opponent''s service.

"One of the reasons I am really upset was I felt I had a chance today."

"She was struggling like me in the beginning. I had early chances to take the lead and control, but I wasn''t serving well, especially in the first set.

"The wind was definitely tough for both of us, but she made less mistakes overall.

Cornet (19) remained solid throughout, as expected from the world No 50 whose ranking had previously peaked at 11.

"We were both pretty nervous," admitted the winner. "It was our first match of the year and it is never easy to start the season, so I was happy to win.

"I thought I served really well ... I have worked hard on my serve. When she had the occasion to break me, she couldn''t do it because I made a lot of first services."

Erakovic now heads directly to Melbourne to prepare for the Australian Open in two weeks. After reaching the second round last year, she hopes to defend those ranking points and translate her practice form into matchplay.

"That would be great."