Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber made a disappointing return to tournament tennis on Tuesday, losing 7-5, 6-1 to China’s Zheng Saisai in the second round at the Qatar Open.
The tournament also suffered another blow after losing its second-seeded player when Simona Halep, the 2014 champion, was beaten by Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-1.
Zheng will play Eugenie Bouchard in the third round after the Canadian beat Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (0), 7-5.
Third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska advanced after beating Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 6-4 while No. 4-seeded Garbine Muguruza beat Japan’s Nao Hibino 6-2, 6-0.
Two-time Wimbledon champion and fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova defeated Barbora Strycova 7-6 (2), 6-4 and former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki beat Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-3, 6-3.
Sania-Hingis secure 41st win
Doha: Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis survived a scare before pulling off a three-set win over the Chinese pair of Yi-Fan Xu and Saisai Zheng in the WTA Qatar Open to extend their unbeaten streak to 41 matches on Wednesday.
The top seeded Indo-Swiss pair toiled for one hour and 24 minutes to prevail 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 over the unseeded Chinese duo to enter the quarterfinals. They got a bye in the first round in the hard court $2,818,000 prize money tournament.
Elsewhere, Bopanna and Mergea lost 6-3, 6-7(6) to Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in the Dubai Open first round.