Dubai: All three Chinese women advanced to the second round while the Arab region’s campaign swiftly concluded on the opening day qualifiers of the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Saturday.
Seeded No.6 in the qualifying rounds, Saisai Zheng powered her way to an emphatic 6-1, 6-0 win over Carla Buyukakcay of Turkey, after Yafan Wang had battled over three sets to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 against Kristina Kucova and Qiang Wang sent packing the Gulf region’s top player, Fatima Al Nabhani 6-4, 6-4 to ensure all three Chinese advanced to the second round.
Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, who was one of the two wild cards in the qualifying rounds, fought well in the first set before bowing out 4-6, 1-6 against the top seed Varvara Lepchenko from the US.
In an erratic battle from the baseline, it was Lepchenko who took the initiative with a break in the eighth game to go 5-3 clear. But Jabeur fought back with a break, only to be broken a second time to hand over the opening set 6-4 in 40 minutes.
The second set was one-sided with the left-handed Lepchenko giving her younger opponent very little space to dominate as she breezed through 6-1.
Results
(Day one of qualifiers)
Varvara Lepchenko bt Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-1; Yaroslava Shvedova bt Zarina Diyas 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; Yafan Wang bt Kristina Kucova 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; Sesil Karatantcheva bt Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-4, 4-6, 6-0; Qiang Wang bt Fatima Al Nabhani 6-4, 6-4; Bethanie Mattek-Sands bt Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-3; Tsvetana Pironkova bt Kristyna Pliskova 6-1, 7-6; Katerina Siniakova bt Olga Savchuk 6-2, 6-2; Saisai Zheng bt Cagla Buyukakcay 6-1, 6-0; Denisa Allertova bt G. Dabrowski 6-2, 6-3; Kateryna Bondarenko bt Anastasija Sevastova 6-3, 6-3; Alison Riske bt Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3, 6-2; Anna-Lena Friedsam bt Evgeniya Rodina 7-5, 6-1.
Order of Play for Sunday (Start at 10.30 am)
Court 1: Denisa Allertova vs Katerina Siniakova; Andrea Hlavackova or Magda Linette vs Saisai Zheng; Nao Hibino or Jelena Ostapenko vs Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Court 2: Yafan Wang vs Yaroslava Shvedova; Anna-Lena Friedsam vs Qiang Wang.
Court 3: Varvara Lepchenko vs Sesil Karatantcheva; Tsvetana Pironkova vs Kateryna Bondarenko; Alison Riske vs Jana Cepelova or Carina Witthoeft.
