Auckland - Olympic champion Elena Dementieva had to fight to stop a potential spoiler, erasing an early 5-1 lead in favour of Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan Chan to post a 7-5, 6-3 victory on Tuesday at the ASB Classic.

Dementieva called her great escape "a tough match."

"She was on fire at the beginning and put a lot of pressure on me. It took me a while to get into the match," she said of her opponent.

The Russian world number four was joined as a straight-sets winner by second seed Caroline Wozniacki as the Dane crushed Italian qualifier Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-0.

Brisbane, Australia - Novak Djokovic's upcoming defence of his Australian Open title was plunged into disarray on Tuesday as the Serb crashed out 6-4, 6-4 in his opening match at the Brisbane International.

The world number two was upset in his first match of the season and now has no chance to gain ranking ground this week on Roger Federer, who competes in Doha.

Gulbis earned his first win over his former teenage companion at a Munich tennis academy after losing to Djokovic at the French Open and Cincinnati Masters last year.

Djokovic lasted just 88 minutes as he was upset by the world number 53, with Gulbis breaking in the fifth game of the opening set to start his roll to victory.

Perth, Australia  - Simone Bolelli scored a breakthrough victory over world number seven Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-3 to draw his nation level with hot favourite France at the Hopman Cup on Tuesday.

The Italians went in with nothing to lose and the tie at first looked like going with the form guide as French number one Alize Cornet dominated Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-2.

Abu Dhabi, UAE  - Britain's Andy Murray downed world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 to win the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition tournament on Saturday.

Perth, Aust

Abu Dhabi, UAE  - Andy Murray remains more excited about his fast-improving Australian Open chances than even the 250,000-dollar prize packet he stands to win in the final with Rafael Nadal at the Capitala Championship in Abu Dhabi.

Murray reached the Saturday title showdown as he beat Roger Federer in three sets at the exhibition.

"It's always a challenge playing Roger," said the Scot, ranked fourth. "I've got the better of him on a few occasions, but in the big one we played, at the US Open final, he beat me pretty badly.