Shahar Peer will rise to a career high of 12th in the WTA rankings despite crashing out of the first tournament of 2011.

Seeded second at the Brisbane International, Peer brushed aside Australian wild card entry Sophie Ferguson (122) in the first round but was beaten in three sets by Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in round two.

The Israeli will be particularly upset at squandering a 5-2 lead and match point in the third set against Safarova.

There was also a first round defeat for Dudi Sela at the Brisbane International against Germany's Michael Berrer (58). Ranked 75 at the start of the tournament, Sela is now expected to slip out of the top 100 after losing the points he accumulated in the first tournament of 2010 when he reached the semi-finals in Chennai, India.

Amir Weintraub, 24, maintained the momentum from last month when he stunned Sela to win the Israel Championships. He will climb to a career high of 281 after winning two qualifying rounds of the New Caledonia Challenger to reach the first round where he beat Olivier Patience (195) of France.

Doubles pairing Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich joined forces in Brisbane and will partner each other permanently after a 30-month break.

Ram said: "We feel like a married couple who separated and got back together again. The aim is to return to the top 10."