Hantuchova, Schiavone Early Winners in Doha

Matches went completely to form in Doha on Monday, as first round action kicked off at the $1.34 million Qatar Total Open. Daniela Hantuchova and Francesca Schiavone made a solid start for the seeds in the Middle Eastern city.

Hantuchova, fresh off her first quarterfinal showing of the year in Dubai, took just 52 minutes to move through her Doha opener against Catalina Castaño, 61 60. The Slovak, the No.6 seed this week, excelled particularly on serve, prevailing on 86% of her first service points and never having her delivery broken. By the end of the match, she won over twice as many points as her tenacious Colombian opponent (55-23).

Schiavone was a 62 64 winner against Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in her first appearance this week. The Italian has had somewhat of a disastrous start to the 2007 season, going 2-4 in her four starts coming in, but is looking to turn it around here, where she was once a quarterfinalist (2005). She is seeded No.8.

Two unseeded players making their Qatar Total Open main draw debuts were on the winners' list on Monday as well. Sania Mirza and Mara Santangelo both won their 10th singles matches of the new year, against Romina Oprandi and Sandra Kloesel, respectively. Both women had made the trip to the Qatari capital in prior years but fell in qualifying, the Indian in 2003 and the Italian in 2003 and 2004.

The final round of this year's qualifying was also contested, with Agnes Szabay, Julia Georges, Anne Kremer and Kateryna Bondarenko reaching the main draw.

Four first round doubles matches also took the court. Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Meghann Shaughnessy were the only seeds in action: the No.2-seeded duo beat Andreea Ehritt-Vanc and Anastassia Rodionova in almost two hours, 62 46 61.

Another seed, No.5 Patty Schnyder, takes the court on Tuesday, taking on French teenager Aravane Rezai. Other matches include a battle between two former world No.8s, Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama and resurgent Australian Alicia Molik. (WTA)