China's star Li Na suffered an early exit from the Montreal Cup WTA tournament after losing 6-4, 6-2 to local favorite Marie-Eve Pelletier Tuesday in the first round in Ottawa.

The 24-year-old from Quebec, ranked 337th in the world, dumped 16th seed Li, who is hoping to improve upon her first-round elimination from Flushing Meadows last year when the US Open starts in two weeks.

"I have to say that my best performance so far was actually qualifying for the Australian Open, but I do think that this is the best win of my career," said Pelletier.

"With all of the foot and ankle injuries I've had, this win is really good for me."

China's Peng Shaui also lost, falling to German 10th seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-3, 6-3.

Top seed and defending champion Kim Clijsters, the reigning US Open champion from Belgium will face Stephanie Dubois in the second round after the Canadian wild card defeated Italian lucky loser Tathiana Garbin, 6-4, 6-4.

Dubois had dropped the first game of the second set when play was suspended by rain on Monday night, then was behind 4-3 when the match was halted due to rain Tuesday afternoon.

When play resumed, Dubois won the final three games to advance into Clijsters' path.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2006)