Barbora Strycova cruised past Fatma Al Nabhani 6-1 6-1 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in just 64 minutes on a day affected by rain delays becoming the first player to reach the second round at the WTA Premier tournament in Doha.
Strycova dropped her service game at the start of the match, but she reeled off five consecutive games to win the first set 6-1. The Czech player went up an early break in the second game at deuce but she dropped her serve in the third game. Strycova broke twice in the fourth and sixth games to cruise to winning the second set 6-1. Strycova will face either number 7 seed Anastasija Sevastova or qualifier Anna Blinkova.
Four women have secured their spots in the main draw. Anna Blinkova overcame 14 double faults to upset Samantha Stosur 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-4 after 2 hours and 30 minutes in a rain delayed match. Both players traded breaks three times en route to the tie-break. Blinkova cruised to an easy 7-1 win in the tie-break. Blinkova went up an early break in the second game to take a 2-0 lead, but Stosur broke three times in the third, fifth and ninth games to win the third set 6-3. Blinkova got an early break at 15 in the first game of the third set. Stosur broke back in the fourth game on her fourth opportunity to draw level to 2-2. Two holds of serve were followed by three consecutive breaks. Blinkova got two breaks in the seventh and ninth games and served out the match at deuce in the 10th game.
In the final qualifying round Ajla Tomljanovic edged Polona Hercog 6-3 6-4 after 1 hour and 46 minutes. The Australian player saved six of the eight break points and converted four of her fourteen break points. Tomljanovic went up a double break and held her final three service game to win the first set 6-3. Tomljanovic went up an early break to open up a 4-2 lead in the second set. Hercog broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Tomljanovic won 8 of the final 11 points with a break in the ninth game to close out the second set 6-4.
Lin Zhu broke six times to sweep past number 2 seed Alison Riske 6-2 6-1 after one hour. Karolina Muchova beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-1 3-6 6-1.
