The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Auckland

World number four Elena Dementieva had to battle back from a big first set deficit to avoid a shock opening round exit at the hands of Taiwan's Yung-Jan Chan in the ASB Classic women's tournament here Tuesday.

The tournament's top seed fought back from 5-1 down in the first set to take the match 7-5, 6-3 after Chan threw everything at her more favoured opponent.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark had a much easier passage through to the second round, dispatching Italian qualifier Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-0.

Spanish eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro also cruised through her first match, beating Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 6-0.

Dementieva admitted to struggling to recover her fluency in her first match of the new season.

"It was a tough match," she said afterwards.

"She was on fire at the beginning and put a lot of pressure on me. I didn't expect such a high level and it took me a while to get into the game."

In the second round, Dementieva will face crowd favourite Marina Erakovic of New Zealand, who scored a hard fought 7-5, 6-4 victory over Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives.