Jelena Dokic could not replicate her Melbourne heroics as the Australian crashed out in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Wildcard Dokic, who reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open earlier this year, lost in straight sets to the American Jill Craybas 6-4 6-2 with eight double faults undermining her bid. In her only other outing since Melbourne, Dokic, 25, lost to the top seed Caroline Wozniacki in Memphis at the end of last month.
Shahar Peer got her bid off to a good start as she needed only 58 minutes to breeze past Kateryna Bondarenko from Ukraine 6-2 6-1. The Israeli now faces number 10 seed Marion Bartoli of France, the winner last week in Monterrey, in the next round. Former top-10 player Nicole Vaidisova battled past Dutch wild card Michaella Krajicek also in straight sets 6-3 6-4. Vaidisova, now ranked 79th in the world, reached the quarter-finals at Indian Wells in 2007 but exited in the first round last year and will be relieved to come through what could have proved a tricky test as she saved five of six break points, serving five aces but four double faults. China's Li Na, the runner-up to Bartoli in Mexico, overcame a gutsy effort from Tamarine Tanasugarn to prevail 6-4 6-4. The Thai player saved eight of 12 break points but succumbed in one hour 19 minutes.
Elsewhere, the Russian Ekaterina Makarova came from a set down to beat France's Natalie Dechy 3-6 6-1 6-3, while there were also wins for Tsvetana Pironkova, Olga Govortsova, Elena Vesnina, Yaroslava Shvedova, Chan Yung-jan and Petra Kvitova. The German Anna-Lena Groenefeld easily disposed of Romania's Monica Niculescu, while the 19-year-old Californian wild card Alexa Glatch won her first match on the WTA tour this season with a 6-3 6-2 triumph over Canadian qualifier Stephanie Dubois. Timea Bacsinszky, Virginie Razzano and Urszula Radwanska also progressed, the latter defeating 16-year-old qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito. *PA Sport