Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei on Monday failed to claim her first main-draw victory of the season at the Qatar Open, while American teenager Amanda Anisimova claimed the third victory of her career over a top-10 player.
World No. 53 Hsieh fell to 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Russia’s Vera Zvonareva in 1 hour, 21 minutes on the hard courts at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.
Zvonareva, 35, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 2 in 2010, saved two of four break points and converted four of six to beat the Taiwanese for a second time in Qatar after winning by the same score in 2018.
Hsieh has been knocked out in the first round of all five of her tournaments this year — Brisbane, Adelaide and the Australian Open, as well as in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, last week.
Anisimova, who last beat a top-10 opponent on the way to her first Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open last year, struck 27 winners in a display of relentless aggression as she stunned fifth seed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-3.
Svitolina, who finished last season as runner-up to Ashleigh Barty at the WTA Finals, has struggled this year, having reached just one quarter-final at the Thailand Open.
The Ukrainian struggled to land her first serve during most of the contest and her poor shot selection ultimately proved her undoing.
Anisimova, 18, next faces either former world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova or Polish teenager Iga Swiatek.
“I think the most important thing was just staying focused and clearing my head, just not putting too much pressure on myself and just trying to enjoy [it],” Anisimova said. “So I’m really happy to be back and kind of playing my own tennis again.”
Greece’s Maria Sakkari celebrated breaking into the top 20 for the first time by defeating Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-4, 6-3.
Sakkari, seeded 15th, won the opening four games in each set on her way to the Qatar Open second round for the first time in three attempts.
“She’s got a big serve and a big game. You have to be careful with her and you have to come up with a good game plan to beat her,” 24-year-old Sakkari said. “It’s a dream come true to be in the top 20 players, but I don’t want to stop here. I see myself much higher and that’s what I’m going to work for. It’s a good goal, but I need to work more.”
Sakkari next faces Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic, who beat Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Hsieh and Czech partner Barbora Strycova, who received a bye in the first round as the top seeds, were due to begin their doubles campaign late yesterday against Ukrainian twins Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok.
They were to be followed on Court 5 by sisters Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan, who were to take on Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey and Laura Siegemund of Germany after the Taiwanese seventh seeds finally ended their season hoodoo outside of Melbourne on Sunday by defeating Japanese duo Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara 6-3, 6-3.
The Chan sisters advanced to the semi-finals of the Australian Open last month, but had lost their opening matches in Brisbane and Hobart, Australia, as well as in Dubai last week.
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