Bad day for Thais

The inconsistent Napaporn made a series of blunders before giving the match on a platter to Rompies 7-5 2-6 7-5. It was the third straight first round exit for the Thai No 3, who

is a doubles specialist.

Her best result so far is a quarter-final place in Perth this year.

It was an unlucky day for local contenders, three of whom faded and lost. Teenager Nicha Lertpitaksinchai was well beaten by Vivien Silfany-Tony of Indonesia 6-3 6-4, while Sophia Mulsap was no match for seventh-seed Vlada Ekshibarova of Uzbekistan, losing 6-2 6-4. Qualifier Achiraya Sriprome also narrowly lost to Haruka Fujishiro of Japan 2-6 6-7 (6-8).

Indian players kept their flag flying with both Sanaa and Ankita Bhambri going through to round two.

Third-seed Sanaa dropped only one game while beating Qiu Si-si of China 6-0 6-1 and fourth-seeded Ankita fought harder to move past South Korean qualifier Kim Joohyoung 6-2 4-6 6-1.

Joining their compatriots in the next round is Parija Maloo, who struck back from a first set deficit to stem the run of Chinese qualifier Dong Nan 4-6 6-1 6-2.