BEIJING, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- World number three Venus Williams struggled through the first round of the China Open on the first match day which was marred by Ana Ivanovic's withdrawal.

    It was the second time for the Serb to stand her Chinese fans up after the glamorous girl announced her controversial pull-out from last year's Olympic tennis tournament only on the eve of the campaign.

    "I guess having to withdraw from Beijing is an appropriate ending to a very disappointing season," Ivanovic said in a letter to the organizers and her fans in China.

    "This trip to Asia has been a big disappointment and I have struggled with my health pretty much since I arrived.

    "It's especially disappointing because I was hoping to be able to see some improvements before the season ended," said Ivanovic, who never won more than two matches in each tournament she took part in since this summer's Wimbledon.

    "My body is quite fragile at the moment because I over-trained during the first part of the year. This was, I think, what caused me to have many small injuries this season," the 19-year-old added.

    The opening day became even spicier when Williams had to dig deep to win a dramatic opener against Russia's Vera Dushevina.

    It looked on course for another typical Williams-style win for Venus, who drew first blood 6-2 in the opening set. But Dushevina, 47th ranked in the world, suddenly gathered all the momentum at his side in the next set, storming to a 4-0 lead after a Williams double faults.

    Williams woke up in time to answer with two breaks tying the match at 4-4. After trading break once more, the set headed for a tie-break where Williams stayed cool to win at 7-1 against the poker faced Dushevina.

    In an earlier match, Australia's Samantha Stosur was upset by Frenchwoman Alize Cornet in swirling winds, hence becoming the first seed casualty at the elite tourney.

    Seeded 15th at the 4.5 million U.S. dollars tournament, Stosur,25, had the chance of advancing, starting to hit ground strokes like a master and capitalizing on her opponent's unforced errors in the second set, winning at 6-4 despite losing the first 6-4.

    Cornet, who broke into the top 20 last year, called up her trainer at the break, which served to turn around the situation.

    The 19-year-old teenager finally hit her stride in the decider, winning at 6-3 to round up the two hours marathon.

    Coming up next for Cornet will be Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak, who came from behind to beat Aravane Rezai from France.

    Elsewhere, Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta beat Chinese youngster Han Xinyun 7-6(2), 6-2 while Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won her opener over Austrian Sybille Bammer 7-5, 6-1. The Russian's reward will be a second round meeting against Venus Williams.