Dubai: Top seed Jarmila Gajdosova eased into the main draw of the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open that gets under way at the Dubai Tennis Stadium from Sunday.
Gajdosova, who took three sets to beat Shahar Peer on the opening day of the qualifiers on Friday, showed early signs of adjusting to the warm outdoors with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Japan’s Misa Eguchi in an hour and two minutes.
The Austrian will now occupy one of the eight spots reserved for qualifiers in the main draw of the women’s singles. This year’s women’s competition has a draw of 64 with eight qualifiers and five wild cards joining the 41 direct acceptances. As usual, this year’s singles has a strong field with eight of the top ten and 15 of the top-20 women scheduled to play in Dubai this week.
Other notable players advancing to the main draw included Gabriela Dabrowski being stretched by Julia Goerges before winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, while Arina Rodionova of Russia moved forward when her older sister Anastasia retired while trailing 2-6, 1-0.
Yuliya Beygelzimer eased her way past Aleksandrina Naydenova 7-5, 6-1, Kateryna Kozlova defeated Elena Vesnina 7-6 (5), 6-4, Timea Babos beat Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 while Oman’s Fatma Al Nabhani’s challenge was ended by Evgeniya Rodina with an easy 6-3, 6-1 win.
Play for the main round will commence at 12 noon on Sunday with entry to the side courts absolutely free to the public.
