Melbourne, Jan 17 (IANS) Local favourite and sixth seed Samantha Stosur crashed out of the Australian Open after losing 6-7, 3-6 to Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the women’s singles first round here Tuesday while compatriot Lleyton Hewitt struggled to reach the second round of the men’s singles.

Big names were untroubled as Petra Kvitova, Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova, Andy Murray, David Ferrer advanced to the second round.

Cirstea, World No. 59, played a superb match to equal her best performance at the Australian Open and reach the second round after the 2010 and 2011 editions, Xinhua reported.

The loss of Australia’s best bet in the tournament shocked the Rod Laver Arena crowd. Stosur’s early exit only added to her ordinary record at her home Grand Slam event. Her best result was the fourth round finish in 2006 and 2010.

The reigning US Open champion admitted that she was struggling with the expectations of local fans after losing in the second round in Brisbane and in the first round in Sydney earlier in the month.

Hewitt, playing in his 16th consecutive Aussie Open, defeated German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 7-5, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. The 30-year-old and a wild-card entrant took almost four hours to beat Stebe.

The 2005 runner-up lost rhythm in the third after winning the first two sets convincingly. Trailing 1-5 in the fourth set, Hewitt fought back to win six straight games to seal the match.

Wimbeldon champion Kvitova of Czech Republic disposed of Russian Vera Dushevina 6-2, 6-0 while Russia’s Sharapova used only 58 minutes to seize a ruthless 6-0, 6-1 victory over Argentine Gisela Dulko.

Djokovic won 16 straight games to start the defense of his Australian Open title, beating Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 6-0, 6-0.

The 2011 runner-up Murray beat American teenager Ryan Harrison 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 and is the last Briton standing in the main draw.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Kim Clijsters will headline Wednesday’s matches. The Swiss takes on Germany’s Andreas Beck while Nadal plays another German in Tommy Haas.

Clijsters’s second-round opponent will be French Stephanie Fortez Gacon and No.3 seed Victoria Azarenka plays Australia’s Casey Dellacqua.

China’s biggest hope Li Na will face the challenge from wildcard Aussie Olivia Rogowska and 16th-seed Peng Shuai will meet Iveta Benesova of Czech Republic.