DOHA: Jennifer Brady lost her first match since the Australian Open final, falling to Anett Kontaveit 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the Qatar Open on Monday.

Brady, who lost to Naomi Osaka in her first major final just over a week ago, made 25 unforced errors against her Estonian opponent. Kontaveit had only nine unforced errors and didn’t face a single break point against the seventh-seeded American.

Kontaveit will play three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber in the second round after the German beat wild card Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey 6-4, 6-2.

Svetlana Kuznetsova and Victoria Azarenka provided what was perhaps the best tennis on the opening day, with Azarenka prevailing 6-2, 6-3.

Despite conceding the first set, Russia’s Kuznetsova put up a spirited defence in the second leading to increasingly sprawling rallies with her well-matched Belarusian opponent.

A number of knife-edge line calls added to the suspense as the two played into the evening, prolonged by Kuznetsova’s formidable depth and court coverage in the second set.

Garbine Muguruza beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to book a second-round match with last year’s Doha winner, Aryna Sabalenka, who had a first-round bye.

Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko thrashed Kiki Bertens 6-0, 6-2 while Maria Sakkari beat Mayar Sherif 6-0, 6-3.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2021