Venus Williams’ Australian Open campaign has come to an abrupt halt with the 10th seed falling 2-6 6-0 9-7 to Bulgarian teenager Tszvetana Pironkova in the opening round.

Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova saw her reign brought to a crushing end on the opening day of the US Open at Flushing Meadows but top seed Maria Sharapova had an easy passage into the second round.