Dubai: The procession of top players making an exit continued as the second, third and fifth seeds fell even as Olympic champion Monica Puig continued her march on the third day of the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open on Tuesday.
Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic caused the biggest upset when she knocked off second seed and last week’s Qatar Open champion Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-4, Ekaterina Makarova sent third seed Dominika Cibulkova packing with a decisive 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win, while fifth seed Garbine Muguruza retired while trailing 1-4 against Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko.
Bucking the trend, however, was fourth seed and former winner Agnieszka Radwanska with an authoritative 6-3, 6-2 win against qualifier Elise Mertens, while Puig maintained a steady course with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win over last year’s semi-finalist Caroline Garcia.
Former world number one and Dubai winner Caroline Wozniacki, seeded No.10 here also eased through into the next round with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic.
Pliskova, Cibulkova and Muguruza joined the growing number of seeds bowing out so far, including No.11 CoCo Vandeweghe, No.13 Kiki Bertens, No. 14 Anastasia Pavyluchenkova, No.15 Caroline Garcia, No.16 Roberta Vinci and No.17 Yulia Putintseva.
“As usual, it was a tough match. I started really good with aggressive tennis, but in the second set maybe I started to think a lot about that I’m playing so good or she’s missing too much. And then, it was a little bit up and down in the second set. But then I just tried to forget all games, all bad points, and just try to hit and play my game,” Makarova said after her win — the second one on the trot following her Round 3 win at the Australian Open — against a better-ranked Cibulkova.
Makarova was the first to break in the third game and held to go 3-1 up. The Russian came up with a second break in the seventh for 5-2 and then served out the set 6-2 in just 34 minutes as the skies threatened to break again.
Cibulkova turned the tables in the second set with an early break for 2-0. However, Makarova fought back and drew level at 4-4. But the third seeded Slovakian broke again in the tenth to win the set 6-4 and push the encounter into a deciding third set.
Cibulkova took the upper hand with an early break to lead 2-0. But that is when she crumbled and Makarova just breezed through the next six games to wrap up the set and match after 129 minutes on court. “I wasn’t brave enough,” Cibulkova lamented later.
“I have to get back on the old track. I was there during 2016. I had much more belief in what I had to do. But now I am tentative and I am losing because I am not finishing matches with that killer instinct that I have. I know it is not easy, but I can do it and I know how to do it. There is no other way,” she added, before heading back home to Slovakia for a short break followed by the long journey for the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments next month.
Bucking this trend, however, was eighth seed Elena Vesnina with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Japan’s Misaki Doi after fourth seed Radwanska had powered home with a swift 6-3, 6-2 win over Belgian qualifier Mertens.
Earlier in the day, play had to be delayed from its scheduled 11am start on centre court due to light drizzles. WTA Supervisor Donna Kelso announced at first that play would start at 12.15pm, but this was re-scheduled for a 12.45pm start.
RESULTS
Ekaterina Makarova bt Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 4-6, 6-2; Monica Puig bt Caroline Garcia 6-1, 4-6, 6-2; Elena Vesnina bt Misaki Doi 6-2, 7-5; Catherine Bellis bt Laura Siegemund 7-5, 7-6 (3); Qiang Wang bt Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1; Agnieszka Radwanska bt Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-2; Kateryna Bondarenko bt Garbine Muguruza 4-1 (retd.); Ana Konjuh bt Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-3; Lauren Davis bt Kristyna Pliskova 1-6, 6-1, 6-3; Caroline Wozniacki bt Viktorija Golubic 6-4, 6-2; Christina McHale bt Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4; Kristina Mladenovic bt Karolina Pliskova 6-2, 6-4;
(Doubles) Abigail Spears/Katarina Srebotnik bt Lyudmyla Kichenok/Nadiia Kichenok 6-2, 6-3; Gabriela Dobrowski/Jelena Ostapenko bt Darija Jurak/Anastasia Rodionova 7-6 (6), 6-1; Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina bt Andreja Klepac/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 7-6 (5); Yung-Jan Chan/Martina Hingis bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Kveta Peschke 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (12).
