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.
Leclerc laps fastest for Ferrari in first US GP practice
Bayern coach Kompany hospitalised after collapsing during training session
Alexander Volkanovski's title defence headlines UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi
Juventus fight back to draw with Rennes as Leverkusen go top
South Africa level test series with big win over Australia
