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Sharapova sent tumbling in Tokyo

Kimiko Date Krumm last won the title in Tokyo in 1995 © Getty Images

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In front of her home crowd in Tokyo, Kimiko Date Krumm stunned defending champion Maria Sharapova at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

A day shy of her 40th birthday, the Japanese world No. 67 showed impressive fitness and resilience to secure a 7-5 3-6 6-3 victory, 15 years after she last won the title at her home event. After Date Krumm edged the opening set, Sharapova clawed her way back into the match, winning three games in a row en route to claiming the second.

But Date Krumm battled back from a break down in the final set to outlast the former world No. 1. A break up in the decider, the three-time Grand Slam champion was 40-0 on serve to go 4-2 up, but Date Krumm dug deep to produce an impressive comeback, winning 17 of the next 21 points to seal her place in the second round.

Another former world No. 1 Dinara Safina followed Sharapova out of the draw after a 6-1 5-7 6-2 defeat to Germany's Julia Goerges. Safina looked to be back on track after winning the second set to take the match to a decider, but failed to win a single point on her second serve in the final set as Goerges set up a second-round clash with fourth seed Sam Stosur.

Ana Ivanovic is also through to the second round after the former French Open champion beat Alisa Kleybanova 6-3 6-2. Kleybanova, having won the Korea Open in Seoul on Sunday, was clearly suffering from fatigue, and Ivanovic took full advantage to set up a second-round clash with 11th seed Marion Bartoli.

In the second round, third seed Jelena Jankovic made light work of Alona Bondarenko. Another former world No. 1 in action in Tokyo, Jankovic eased to a 6-4 6-1 victory, and now awaits the winner of an intriguing second-round clash between Wimbledon quarter-finalist Kaia Kanepi and Shahar Peer, who beat Timea Bacsinszky 5-7 7-5 6-4.

Sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also progressed into the third round with a routine 6-2 6-3 win over Olga Govortsova.

Elsewhere in the first round there were also wins for Aravane Rezai and American qualifier Coco Vandeweghe, while Italy's Roberta Vinci ousted 15th seed Nadia Petrova. Yaroslava Shvedova came from a set down to beat another home favourite Kurumi Nara 4-6 6-2 6-1.

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