Tuesday’s second-round action at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships escorted six seeded players, including Elina Svitolina and Petra Kvitova. Let’s do a recap of the busy day through a photo coverage by Jimmie48.
After admitting that significantly reduced prizes at tournaments have affected her motivation, top seed Elina Svitolina fell to Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6 6-4 6-1. The Russian will next face Barbora Krejcikova, who defeated Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 6-1.
Second seed Karolina Pliskova had to dig deep to see off Anastasija Sevastova 6-3 6-7(5) 6-2 and will play in-form Jessica Pegula in the round of 16, as the American lost just three games to Kristina Mladenovic.
Third seed Aryna Sabalenka dispatched Alize Cornet 6-2 6-4 and awaits seed No.15 Anett Kontaveit, a 6-4 7-5 winner over Sorana Cirstea.
The fresh Doha champion Petra Kvitova, seeded fourth in Dubai, retired from her Tuesday’s match-up with Jil Teichmann because of an injury:
Unfortunately since my semifinal in Doha I felt my adductor. It didn’t get any better and in the second set it got a little bit worse. I felt pain almost everywhere on that right leg so unfortunately I couldn’t move how I wanted and I didn’t want it to get worse.
The third round will feature a blockbuster between Iga Swiatek and Garbine Muguruza. Coming off second career WTA title run at Adelaide, the eighth-seeded Swiatek eased past lucky loser Misaki Doi 6-2 6-4. Muguruza defeated American teenager Amanda Anisimova 6-4 6-2.
Wearing her custom New Balance dress, teenager Coco Gauff fought back to upset seed No.12 Marketa Vondrousova 3-6 6-0 6-4. The American’s third-round opponent will be Tereza Martincova, who stunned fifth seed Kiki Bertens 6-1 6-4.
Other Tuesday’s second-round winners include Belinda Bencic, Anastasia Potapova, Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur, and Elise Mertens.
Even though Jimmie48 took a lot of amazing match photos, my favorites today are those taken during warm-ups. Here are a few:
