TENNIS in DEPTH.

Jelena Dokic produced a stunning comeback to knock French Open champion and top seed Francesca Schiavone out of the Malaysian Open with a 2-6 7-6(1) 6-4 victory in the first round in Kuala Lumpur.

The 27-year-old Croatian-born Australian was broken three times in the opening set – thanks to a combination of wayward first serves and limp second serves – as Schiavone looked to be on her way to an emphatic win. However, the course of the match changed in the second set as Dokic saved four out of five break-points and forced Schiavone into a tie-break – which she went on to dominate 7-1. Schiavone conceded just one break in the final set, but the Italian failed to find a way through Dokic’s vastly improved serve and crashed out of the Malaysian tournament at the very first hurdle.

Dokic will be joined in the second round by sixth-seed and former junior world number three Ayumi Morita, who claimed a resounding 6-2 6-0 win against Belarusian Darya Kustova.

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