Defending champion Belinda Bencic and two-time winner Elina Svitolina have crashed out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in the opening round.
Fourth seed Bencic lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 1-6, 1-6, while third seed Svitolina suffered a shock 2-6, 1-6 defeat to qualifier Jennifer Brady.
.@jennifurbrady95 moves on at #DDFTennis 💪
— wta (@WTA) February 18, 2020
She claims it over Svitolina, 6-2, 6-1. pic.twitter.com/UwMHTkVO2p
And she's through to the next round @NastiaPav defeats depending champion Bencic. This is going to be an interesting week #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/RhSgqMlMv5
— Dubai Tennis Champs (@DDFTennis) February 18, 2020
Elsewhere, Kristina Mladenovic overcame Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 6-3 and Katerina Siniakova beat fellow Czech, Karolina Muchova 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.


Colombia beat Ghana 1-0 to set up Switzerland showdown
Egypt sink Australia on penalties to secure first World Cup knockout win
Argentina survive Cape Verde upset bid in extra time thriller
Djokovic reaches another milestone, Sinner warming to the task
Gauff tames Liu in Wimbledon 3rd round, Sabalenka beats Ostapenko
