Fifth-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, playing her first week as a top 10 player, was upset 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 by Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
In the doubles yesterday, Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung and Darija Jurak of Croatia advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-1, 4-6, 12-10 victory over Slovenian duo Andreja Klepac and Katarina Srebotnik in 1 hour, 22 minutes in the quarter-finals.
Chuang and Jurak rallied from a set down to win their first-round match against Chinese pairing Liang Chen and Wang Yafan 4-6, 6-2, 10-4 late on Tuesday.
Photo: EPA
The ninth-ranked Bencic, 18, who reached last weekend’s final in St Petersburg, Russia, looked physically exhausted by the end of the 2 hour, 31 minute match against the 20th-ranked Jankovic.
“It wasn’t easy being in St Petersburg over the weekend and then in Dubai since yesterday, but that’s part of being a professional tennis player and it’s something that we all have to cope with,” Bencic said. “Of course I am disappointed to have lost, but it’s a long season and I need to turn my focus to the next tournament.”
Seventh-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy, who won the St Petersburg tournament, also made an early exit on Tuesday, falling to Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova 6-0, 4-6, 6-3.
Four of the eight seeds have lost in the first round — Bencic, Vinci, Karolina Pliskova and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
In the 12th game of the second set, Bencic smacked a backhand crosscourt wide on a sixth set point in the game for Jankovic.
By the third set, Bencic was visibly struggling, although she managed to save seven overall break points against her serve in the sixth and eighth games.
In the final game of the match, Bencic netted a backhand at 15-40 to end the contest.
In earlier matches, Anna Ivanovic of Serbia and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine advanced to the second round.
Ivanovic swept past Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-0, while the 21st-ranked Elina Svitolina advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova.
The 17th-ranked Ivanovic came to Dubai after having reached the semi-finals in St Petersburg, where she lost to Vinci.
Ivanovic will play defending champion and top-seeded Simona Halep in the second round.
“You want to play against the best, and next match is going to be a tough one for me,” Ivanovic said. “Simona is a very tough, consistent player. She strikes the ball well. She moves well. So it’s going to be a good challenge.”
Svitolina’s match was her first to be played with coaching consultant Justine Henin, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, in attendance.
Svitolina plays second-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the second round.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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