Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania in action against Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada during her first round qualifying singles match of the Qatar Total Open at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex yesterday. The Romanian won 6-2, 6-2 and will face Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia for a spot in the main draw.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
The top four seeds at the $731,000 WTA Qatar Total Open—top seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, second seed and defending champion Simona Halep of Romania, third seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who has been seeded fourth —won’t be seen in action until Tuesday, having given first-round byes by the organisers.
While defending champion Halep will open her campaign against the winner of the opening round match between France’s Alize Cornet and a qualifier, Kvitova is likely to face former world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in her second round match. Jankovic too faces a qualifier in tomorrow’s opening round.
Wozniacki may find it tough, as she will find either Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic or veteran Samantha Stosur of Australia waiting for her on Tuesday.
Radwanska, last year’s finalist here, too has a tough opener against the winner of the first-round clash between Italian Flavia Pennetta and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The big names who would be seen in action on the opening day tomorrow are former world number one Venus Williams of the US, who has been experiencing a resurgence in form in recent months.
The seventh seed has been drawn to meet Casey Dellacqua in her opening round match.
Rising German Andrea Petkovic, the sixth seed, has drawn a qualifier but could go on to meet Wozniacki in the quarter-finals.
Wild card Victoria Azarenka faces a tricky opponent in her campaign-opener in German eighth seed Angelique Kerber, and if she passes the opening hurdle, could see Halep waiting for her in the last eight stage.
Among the notable losers in yesterday’s qualifying were up-and-coming Swiss Belinda Bencic and promising Serbian Bojana Jovanovski. While Bencic went down 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-2 to Francesca Schiavone of Italy, the Serb lost in straight sets to Yulia Putintseva of Kazhakstan.
Qatar’s Olla Mourad lost to Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-1, 6-0.
