Dementieva makes early exit

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Elena Dementieva became the first big name to crash out of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, losing to Tatiana Panova in straight sets.

Third seed Dementieva went down to her fellow Russian 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

But there were no shocks for top seed Venus Williams as she beat Japan's Saori Obata 6-3 6-4.

But the American, who has only just returned from a lengthy injury lay-off, was far from convincing against the game but unheralded Obata.

Dementieva has made a poor start to the year and was the victim of the first shock at last month's Australian Open.

She lost to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia & Montenegro on the opening day in Melbourne.

Fourth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan had little trouble getting past Els Callens, beating the Belgian 6-3 6-3.

While fifth seed Chanda Rubin came through a three-set battle with another Japanese player, Akiko Morigami , 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.

Seventh seed Jelena Dokic of Serbia & Montenegro squeezed past Janette Husarova of Slovakia 7-6 6-7 6-1.

And Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva beat Laura Granville of America 6-1 6-3.