Pliskova, Krejcikova Advance At Abu Dhabi; Canadians Fall

At the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Krejcikova were early round winners on Tuesday.

Krejcikova of the Czech Republic eliminated Elena-Gabriela Ruse in two sets 6-1, 6-4 while Pliskova cruised past Ysaline Bonaventure 6-1, 6-3.

Also in first round play, Jil Teichmann defeated Dayana Yastremska 6-3, 7-6(7-5), No. 6 Beatriz Haddad Maia defeated Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-3, 6-0. And No. 8 Liudmila Samsonova moved past Claire Liu of the United States in three sets 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Chinese star Qinwen Zheng ousted Rebecca Marino of Canada 6-3, 6-3. The 20-year-old Zheng tallied 10 aces, won 24/27 (89%) of first serve points, and never lost serve. She has never lost to Marino, leading 2-0 in tour-level head-to-head meetings.

It was a tough day for Canadians. Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan moved past former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in two sets 7-6(7-2), 6-2. Shelby Rogers got by one-time US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez of Canada 6-4, 6-7(5-7), 6-1.

On Wednesday, feature matches are No. 2 Belinda Bencic – Marta Kostyuk in second round play, Elise Mertens – No. 4 Veronika Kudermetova, No. 5 Jelena Ostapenko – Qinwen Zheng and Shelby Rogers – No. 7 Anett Kontaveit.