Wozniacki upset by Cibulkova in Sydney

Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki was upset by Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-3 in her opening match at the Sydney International on Tuesday in another setback for her Australian Open preparations.

The defeat follows two straight-sets losses by Wozniacki to No. 2-ranked Vera Zvonareva and U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters in exhibition events in Singapore and Hong Kong last week.

Zvonareva also had an upset defeat Tuesday, losing 7-5, 7-5 to Italy's Flavia Pennetta.

Cibulkova, ranked 32nd, converted four of six break opportunities, while Wozniacki only broke her opponent once in the second-round match. Woznicki had a bye in the first round.

"Definitely it's a bit tough to go from Hong Kong to Sydney and play really well here," Wozniacki said. "But I felt pretty good out there. Just wasn't my day. At the start of the new season, you always need to get into the match play."

Wozniacki, the first top-seeded woman to lose her opening match at the Sydney International since 2003, said she would head to Melbourne as soon as possible to finish finetuning for the Australian Open, which begins Monday.

"Last year I had the same start - so hopefully slow start, good finish," Wozniacki said. "You need to learn from the losses. I'm confident that for Melbourne I'll be okay."

Cibulkova moved into a quarterfinal against Russia's Alisa Kleybanova, who beat Spain's Maria Jose Martinez 6-2, 6-4.

Third-seeded Clijsters needed just 69 minutes for a 6-1, 6-4 win over Czech qualifier Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in her second-round match, while No. 7 Victoria Azarenka of Belaruis beat Israel's Shahar Peer 7-5, 6-3 and No. 8 Li Na of China beat Virginie Razzano of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.

In men's first-round matches, No. 7 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain had a 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over Australian qualifier Chris Guccione and Juan Igncacio Chela of Argentina beat Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-0, 6-3.