Peng tumbles to czech in second round

Peng Shuai, the No 16 seed, saw her Australian Open campaign end prematurely with a second round loss to Czech veteran Iveta Benesova, 6-2, 6-4, under the blazing sun in Melbourne.

"I didn't play good tennis today. I felt nervous on the court," Peng said after the match. "I didn't get used to her (Benesova) left-hand serve, it created a lot of problems for me. And I didn't serve well today. I was not in my (top) form."

Coming to the tournament with expectations to go deeper than her last-16 feat in 2011, Peng attributed her lackluster performance to pressure.

"I felt so stressed today throughout the match. There was already a lot of pressure on my shoulders in the first round. It indeed affected my play a lot," said the 26-year-old.

Peng enjoyed a red-hot start to the season last year, reaching the semis in Auckland, New Zealand, and Hobart before achieving her best result in Melbourne. She also stormed into the fourth round at Wimbledon and the US Open last year, improving her year-end ranking to a career peak of No 17.

However, she has seemed out of sorts this year, crashing out early in Auckland and Sydney before her Open defeat. Still, she remains upbeat about the rest of the season.

"Today's match is over and I won't worry about the past. Hopefully I will get my rhythm back and play better in the following weeks," said Peng.

Peng still has work to do Down Under as she is partnering Italian Francesca Schiavone in the women's doubles.

"It was a rush decision," said Peng. "I was planning to team with (German Sabine) Liski, but she decided to give up the doubles due to an injury. My coach just told me during the Sydney International that I would play with her (Schiavone); we have no experience playing together."

Peng said she would not combine with her London Olympic partner, Zheng Jie, until the European season begins so that they can focus on earning enough singles points before the London Games. Zheng will face Italian veteran Roberta Vinci in the singles second round today before joining Slovenian Polona Hercog for the doubles opening match.