The top two seeds in the Qatar Open have crashed out of the tournament on a what was a disastrous day for the seeded players.
Headlining the draw was Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber. The German was playing in her first match since Melbourne after pulling out of last week’s Dubai Open due to a thigh strain. Facing Chinese world No.72 Zheng Saisai, a well below-par Kerber produced 38 unforced errors as her 22-year-old opponent dominated proceedings to win 7-5, 6-1. Kerber also struggled with her service, winning 48% of her service points compared to Saisai’s 63%.
Reflecting on her shock exit in Doha, the world No.2 seemed baffled about her disappointing performance. When asked if it was due to lack of practice or the increased pressures placed on her following her Australian Open triumph, the German was unable to point to one specific thing.
“I don’t know if it was the pressure or not. I know, of course, pressures from the last years, but maybe it was both,” she told reporters.
“I mean, I was feeling this morning also not good when I was practising. This is actually what I can say, I don’t know how many mistakes I did today. This is not my game, to make so many mistakes.
“I was trying to go for it. I think it was more like I was not feeling my game and not finding my rhythm.”
The Triumph is Saisai’s first win over a top-5 player in her career. Her reward will be a third round meeting with Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard. Despite being broken on six occasions during her match against Czech Republic’s Denisa Allertova, Bouchard battled to win 7-6(0), 7-5 in her second round match.
Top seed Kerber sent packing by an inspired Zheng Saisai earlier today in Doha. #QatarTotalOpen pic.twitter.com/APcf3wJSVX
— Nick Leone (@NickyLeonski) February 23, 2016
Following Kerber out of the tournament is second seed Simona Halep. The Romanian superstar seemed on course to a place in the last sixteen after leading Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina 7-6(1), 4-1. Despite the seemingly dominant position, Vesnina battled back by dismantling the Halep severe. The world No.118 broke the second seed in five out of her final six service games to seal a shock 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-1, triumph.
Vesnina, who has been ranked as high as 21st back in 2013, put the sensational comeback down to her character.
“That’s my character – I’m always fighting ’til the end,” she said.
“I was thinking, ‘I’m on center court here in Doha, I’m playing Simona, 1-4 down – but it doesn’t matter.
“I just fight game by game, ball by ball, and it just worked.
This is now the second consecutive week where Halep has failed in her first match at a WTA tournament. Last week she suffered a straight sets loss to Ana Ivanovic. The latest disappointment means that Halep will drop down to fifth in the rankings next week, an alarming factor for the Romanian as she prepares to defend her Indian Wells title in two weeks time.
Reclaiming Halep’s No.4 position will be Garbine Muguruza. The Spanish player only needed to do one round better than Halep at the Doha Tournament. The Spanish player achieved the task in style after producing a comprehensive 6-2, 6-0 win over Japanese world No.60 Nao Hibino.
Continuing the trend of seeded players to crash out of Doha, highly rated Swiss player Belinda Bencic suffered a 6-4, 6-2, loss to Coco Vandeweghe. The American, who reached the quarterfinals at last week’s Dubai Tennis Championships, fired ten aces past the sixth seed to set up a third round showdown with Andrea Petkovic.
French Open runner-up and seventh seed Lucie Safarova succumbed to Turkish wildcard Cagla Buyukakcay 7-6(6), 7-5. The loss for the Czech was understandable given her troublesome start to 2016. Safarova hasn’t played a match since last year’s WTA finals after suffering from a bacterial infection. At the start of the year, it was confirmed that she was suffering from rheumatic fever.
Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska and eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro avoided the trend of seeds crashing out of the tournament. Radwanska defeated Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 6-4, 6-4. Meanwhile, Suarez Navarro edged past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 7-6(5),6-4.
Performance of the 16 seeds at the 2016 Qatar Open
- 1. Angelique Kerber (Second round)
- 2. Simona Halep (Second round)
- 3. Agnieszka Radwańska
- 4. Garbiñe Muguruza
- 5. Petra Kvitová
- 6. Belinda Bencic (Second round)
- 7. Lucie Šafářová (Second round)
- 8. Carla Suárez Navarro
- 9. Roberta Vinci
- 10. Karolína Plíšková (First round)
- 11. Timea Bacsinszky
- 12. Svetlana Kuznetsova (Second round)
- 13. Caroline Wozniacki
- 14. Jelena Janković (Second round)
- 15. Elina Svitolina (First round)
- 16. Sara Errani (Second round)
Names in bold are still participating in the tournament.
