World no1 Dinara Safina suffered a shock 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 defeat at the hands of Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-Chen at the Pan Pacific Open today.

The Russian, who had been given a first-round bye, struggled from the start against a player 131 places below her in the world rankings and lost the first set tie-break 7-5.

Safina rallied to take the second with a thumping backhand, pumping her fist and screeching "Come on!"

But after seizing an early break in the deciding set,her nervousness resurfaced as she tamely surrendered her serve with a double-fault at 5-4 up.

Chang kept her cool and completed the biggest win of her career by forcing Safina into a wild forehand on her third match point after two hours and 44 minutes.