Cornet bundled out of Hobart International

Fourth seed Alize Cornet has been ousted in the opening round of the Hobart International by rising Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu.

World No.56 Buzarnescu, ranked 18 places below Cornet, toppled the former Hobart International champion 6-2 6-4 in a little under an hour and a half.

Buzarnescu broke twice in the first set and in the penultimate game of the second before sealing the match with an ace.

Hampered by a quad injury, a visible frustrated Cornet was in tears during a change of ends early in the match.

"My leg was a bit painful ... maybe I was a little bit too focused on my leg and not enough on the game," she said.

Cornet picked up the quad tightness on her run to the quarterfinals in Brisbane last week but was confident she'd be fit for the Australian Open in eight days' time.

"Just after Brisbane I needed one, maybe two, days rest," she said.

"I was totally passive and she was just doing whatever she wanted on the court - that was really frustrating for me."

Buzarnescu, 29, rocketed up the WTA rankings in 2017 - coming from outside the top 500 to finish inside the top 60.

She won 70 singles matches and made her grand slam debut at the US Open.

Buzarnescu has set up a second-round meeting with Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam or a qualifier.

In Sunday's opening match, Australian wildcard Lizette Cabrera lost in straight sets to Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia.