Vesnina victorious on return, Keys beats Bencic at the Qatar Total Open

0

Tuesday at the Qatar Total Open was marked by Elena Vesnina’s first match since mid-2018 and Madison Keys’ start of the 2021 season. Let’s go through today’s tennis photos and see everything that happened in the opening round of singles and doubles in Doha.

Jessica Pegula 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Jessica Pegula

Coming off maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the 2021 Australian Open, American world No.44 Jessica Pegula went through qualifying to earn a spot in the Qatar Total Open main draw and then advanced further on Tuesday with a 6-2 6-1 first-round victory over China’s Wang Qiang.

Wang Qiang 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Wang Qiang

It was an encounter of two Adidas-clad players who both combined yellow and green pieces from the PRIMEBLUE x HEAT.RDY collection.

Ons Jabeur 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Ons Jabeur

Later in the day we had another fashion twinning, this time with Lotto. Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Anna Blinkova of Russia both wore the Spring Tech Print Top and Spring Tech Skirt.

Anna Blinkova 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Anna Blinkova

The world No.31 Jabeur defeated qualifier Blinkova 6-2 6-2 in 68 minutes.

Laura Siegemund 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Laura Siegemund

This is Laura Siegemund warming up for her meeting with Elena Rybakina. The 56th-ranked German qualifier Siegemund held off comeback attempts from Rybakina in each set and overcame a 33-place rankings gap to edge the Kazakh 7-6(7) 7-6(5).

Elena Rybakina 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Elena Rybakina

Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Czech qualifier Kristyna Pliskova 6-2 6-3 in the first round on Tuesday.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

Playing her first match this season, Madison Keys recorded a commanding 6-4 6-1 victory over sixth seed Belinda Bencic. It was their first meeting since 2015.

Madison Keys 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Madison Keys

The 12th-ranked Bencic came to Doha right after reaching the final of the Adelaide International.

2021 Qatar Total Open Doha Belinda Bencic
Belinda Bencic

Our photographer Jimmie48 is a master of depicting the pre-match mood of players. How awesome are these black-and-white pics of Madison and Belinda!

2021 Qatar Total Open Doha Madison Keys
Madison Keys
Belinda Bencic 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Belinda Bencic

Misaki Doi of Japan upset China’s Zheng Saisai 6-4 6-3. Zheng had won all their previous meetings, including two on ITF circuit, and also made Doha quarterfinals last year in her last tournament of 2020.

Misaki Doi 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Misaki Doi

Sania Mirza talked to the media this Tuesday. Playing her first tournament after a year of absence, the Indian teamed up with Slovenian Andreja Klepac and advanced to doubles quarterfinals on Monday.

Sania Mirza 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Sania Mirza

Elena Vesnina made a victorious return to the tour. In action for the first time since becoming a mom, Vesnina partnered with Siegemund and the pair defeated Elina Svitolina and Victoria Azarenka 4-6 7-5 10-8 to reach the doubles quarterfinals.

Elena Vesnina Laura Siegemund 2021 Qatar Total Open Doha
Elena Vesnina playing doubles with Laura Siegemund

We don’t like to see singles players dressed the same when they play against each other, but matching is welcome in doubles teams. Svitolina and Azarenka looked awesome in the purple Nike Spring Melbourne Skirt and Jimmie48’s photos prove that. This pic is my favorite.

2021 Qatar Total Open Doha Elina Svitolina Victoria Azarenka
Victoria Azarenka and Elina Svitolina

Wednesday at the Qatar Total Open will feature all second-round matches in singles and quarterfinals in doubles.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here