Bad day for Maria Sharapova but she vows to return

On a day when she was her own worst enemy, Sharapova committed 66 unforced errors to lose 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4 in a match that lasted three hours and 21 minutes.

It was a disappointing early exit for Sharapova, the 14th seed, and continued a poor recent run in majors after she lost in the second round at Wimbledon and third round at the US Open last year.

"It's just a bad day," said the 2008 champion. "A bad day's not going to stop me from doing what I love. I'm still going to go back on the court and work hard and perform. I'll be back here on a Saturday of the second week, so you watch."

Kirilenko, the world No 58, admitted it was one of the biggest successes of her career, despite it coming against her close friend. "I think it's one of, the best wins for me," the 22-year-old said. "When you are on the court, you don't think about that she's my friend."

The anticipated second-round clash between returning Belgian Justin Henin and fifth seed Elena Dementieva will occur after they both negotiated the first round.

Henin made her return to a grand slam after a 20-month retirement by beating countrywoman Kirsten Flipkens 6-4, 6-3, before Dementieva conceded just three games to see off Vera Dushevina 6-2, 6-1.

Both players are in form with wild-card entrant Henin reaching the final at Brisbane a fortnight ago in her first tournament back, while Dementieva won the Sydney International last week after beating world No1 Serena Williams in the final.

Henin, who won the Australian Open title in 2004, said she was looking forward to her second-round clash with Dementieva. "She's No5 in the world, so it's going to be a great challenge for me to play that kind of match very early in the tournament," she said. "I love to play the top players. I know I'll have to be at a very high level."

Henin's fellow returning Belgian, Kim Clijsters, hardly needed to raise a sweat as she beat Canadian qualifier Valerie Tetreault 6-0, 6-4. The US Open champion raced through the opening set in just 23 minutes, and while she took her foot off the accelerator in the second, the match was always within the 15th seed's keeping.

Last year's runner-up and second seed Dinara Safina was made to battle for her first win beating Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4, 6-4 in 89 minutes.

Third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was a straight-sets winner over Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-2, while world No 16 Yanina Wickmayer, who had to qualify for the main draw after her ban for breaching anti-doping regulations was lifted, survived a scare to beat Alexandra Dulgheru 1-6, 7-5, 10-8.