Barbora Strycova

Svitolina has endured a disappointing start to the season and there was no upturn in fortunes in Doha, where she was beaten 6-3 6-3 in the second round.

Martic got past Barbora Strycova in the first round in Dubai last week, but the Czech gained revenge with a 4-6 6-1 6-1 victory to move into round two.

Alison Riske, the 13th seed, lost an all-American encounter with Jennifer Brady, while 17th seed Donna Vekic went down in straight sets to Iga Swiatek.

Kiki Bertens had no such trouble, winning 6-2 6-4 against Karolina Muchova to reach the third round, while Elena Rybakina came from a set down to oust Sorana Cirstea.

TEENAGER ANISIMOVA STARTLES SVITOLINA

Svitolina has won just four matches this year and it was 18-year-old Anisimova who inflicted another blow on the world number seven.

The American teenager claimed a first top 10 win of 2020, taking just 64 minutes to sail through in her first appearance in this tournament.

She struck 27 winners and saved all three break points faced and will take on either Swiatek or Svetlana Kuznetsova for a place in the quarter-finals.

RYBAKINA ROARS BACK

Rybakina suffered the agony of a defeat to Simona Halep in the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Saturday.

The 20-year-old rising star from Kazakhstan, up to a career-high 17th in the rankings, gave another demonstration of her fighting spirit by roaring back to beat Cirstea 3-6 6-3 6-1.

Rybakina already has 20 victories to her name this season and will be expected to make it 21 when she takes on Alison Van Uytvanck in the second round.

SUAREZ NAVARRO SETS UP BATTLE OF FORMER CHAMPIONS

Carla Suarez Navarro coasted to a 7-5 6-0 first-round victory over Zhang Shuai on day two of the tournament.

The Spaniard's reward will be a tough encounter with Petra Kvitova, two players who have experienced glory in Doha.

Suarez Navarro won the tournament in four years ago and Kvitova was crowned champion in 2018.

Making her first appearance on the WTA Tour since the 2012 US Open, former world number one Clijsters fell to a 6-2 7-6 (8-6) defeat against Australian Open finalist Muguruza in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The 36-year-old dropped her first two service games in the second set but managed to get things back on serve and force a tie-break, something she was proud of despite her early exit.

Clijsters said: "I felt obviously the second set was a big difference compared to the first set. My timing in the first set, my footing, just kept looking for it.

"I felt a few times it was there, then it would be off a few points. At times I felt like I was close. I was seeing the ball clear. Just started reading her game better, as well, getting used to her pace a little bit.

"Yeah, second set I felt I was really in the match. I felt like for a while I was dominating some of the points.

"I think that's a good feeling to have, knowing the way I started the first set and then the way I was able to get back into that second set, with the type of tennis I played, it's something that is the positive about this match. I'll take that with me for the next matches.

"I had a good feeling out there. I do feel a little bit of, I'm not going to say relief, but a feeling that the pace I can handle."

Muguruza accepted she went into the match completely unsure of what to expect, with Clijsters representing something of an unknown quantity, though she is now anticipating the Belgian to cause problems for plenty of players.

"I think she played very well, especially in the second set at the end," Muguruza said. "It was very tight.

"I think this is just special because I didn't know how [Clijsters was] going to play. I know she can play incredible - she did at some point play [at an] incredible level. I haven't seen her play in so long, so it's like, 'Okay, what's going to happen?'

"I'm sure she's going to get better and better, for sure, [and] give us a lot of trouble."

Clijsters' fellow Belgian Elise Mertens was in action earlier in the day and had significantly fewer issues, cruising past Wang Qiang in straight sets.

Mertens needed a little over an hour to secure her progression, ultimately running out a comfortable 6-3 6-0 victor – winning the second set in just 25 minutes.

World number 18 Alison Riske suffered a shock 7-6 (7-3) 1-6 6-3 defeat at the hands of Ons Jabeur, who set up a second-round clash with Simona Halep.

The Tunisian, who is ranked 45th in the world, eventually came out on top and owed much to her ability to hit a winner, outscoring Riske 28 to 11 in that metric as she claimed a seventh career win over a top-20 opponent.

Barbora Strycova came through a lengthy encounter with 18-year-old Amanda Animisova, beating the American 6-3 (7-3) 2-6 6-4 over two hours and 33 minutes, taking advantage of her opponent's proneness to errors.

Marketa Vondrousova was the highest-ranked player in action on Tuesday, and she dispatched Anastasija Sevastova with relative ease, winning 6-3 6-2.

Halep was on the brink of a surprise defeat to the in-form world number 45, but hung in there to win a thriller 1-6 6-2 7-6 (9-7) on Wednesday.

The two-time grand slam champion and Jabeur were given great backing from passionate Romanian and Tunisian supporters in a pulsating contest that swung one way and the other.

Halep appeared destined to complete the turnaround with ease when she led 3-0 in the final set, but the tenacious Jabeur was relishing the battle and showed great spirit to take the upper hand at 6-5.

The unseeded Jabeur was broken to love when serving for the match, though, and a double-fault gifted 2015 champion Halep a 4-2 lead in the tie-break, yet there was more drama to come.

Jabeur fended off three match points to earn one of her own, but Halep showed her grit to win the next two points before her gutsy opponent drilled a forehand long to end a tense two-hour contest.

Halep will face Aryna Sabalenka in the last eight after the seventh seed defeated Elise Mertens 6-4 6-3.

Australian Open runner-up Garbine Muguruza advanced with a hard-fought Veronika Kudermetova, winning 7-5 4-6 6-4 two days after knocking out the returning Kim Clijsters.

Elena Rybakina, a three-time finalist this year, got the better of Katerina Siniakova for the second successive week, a 6-3, 6-3 victory setting up a meeting with Karolina Pliskova.

Second seed Pliskova lost just three games in emphatic defeat of Kristina Mladenovic, while Petra Martic, Jennifer Brady and Anett Kontaveit were also victorious.

The 10th seed coasted to a 6-0 6-4 triumph in Rome despite struggling with tiredness, having only recently arrived in Italy after her second-round loss to Shelby Rogers at the US Open.

Monday's victory was particularly sweet for the Kazakh, who had already suffered two defeats to Alexandrova in 2020.

"It was not easy because I just came from America and I'm jet lagged," said Rybakina.

"I had one week to prepare on clay and it's not enough, usually it takes a longer time – but we have to adjust.

"But I'm happy to play matches, and the more I play the better for me. Every match I will find my rhythm and also move better on clay, because it's completely different [to hard courts]."

The 21-year-old was not the only seed to enjoy a straight-sets success, with US Open quarter-finalist Elise Mertens (11) defeating Hsieh Su-wei 6-3 6-1.

A couple of seeds bit the dust as Alison Riske (13) fell to a 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 loss against Aliona Bolsova, while 16th seed Donna Vekic was beaten 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (8-6) by Amanda Anisimova.

Top seed Simona Halep learned who she will face in the second round, with home hope Jasmine Paolini getting the honour after the wildcard saw off Anastasija Sevastova 6-2 6-3.