Swiatek Cruises Past Fernandez In Dubai, Sabalenka Wins; Rybakina v Gauff Wed.
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Iga Swiatek continued her dominant form. The world No. 1 won Doha dropping just five total games, and today in her Dubai opener she surrendered just two in a 6-1, 6-1 rout over former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.
Swiatek was broken once but broke serve six times in the match with the top seed winning the final eight points of the match.
“It wasn’t that easy for sure. It was much tougher than the score said,” Swiatek told the WTA. “In the second set. … I needed to go a level up. I didn’t have much time to get used to the conditions, but I’m just happy I could play solid tennis.”
Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka made a strong debut as a Grand Slam winner rolling past 29-year-old American Lauren Davis 6-0, 6-1. The Belarussian dropped just three points on first serve. She won the first nine games of the match.
No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula kept pace with a three set win over Viktoriya Tomova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. Viktoriya Tomova slips to 0-7 against Top 10 players.
Madison Keys pulled the upset of the day bouncing the 4th-seeded Caroline Garcia 7-5, 6-4.
Karolina Pliskova upended the 6th-seeded Maria Sakkari in two sets 6-1, 6-2. Former champion Belinda Bencic, No. 9 seed Elena Rybakina and Petra Kvitova also were winners as was the 15th-seeded Victoria Azarenka who won a tight one over Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7-5).
Jelena Ostapenko continued her title defense with a good win over the Czech teen Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-0.
The Wednesday line-up features third round play with No. 3 Jessica Pegula – Ana Bogdan, Karolina Muchova – No. 8 Belinda Bencic, No. 5 Coco Gauff – No. 9 Elena Rybakina, No. 12 Petra Kvitova – Barbora Krejcikova, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka – No. 13 Jelena Ostapenko, No. 14 Liudmila Samsonova – No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 15 Victoria Azarenka – Madison Keys along with Karolina Pliskova – Anhelina Kalinina.
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