Victoria Azarenka and Svetlana Kuznetsova provided what was perhaps the best tennis on the opening day of the Qatar Open on Monday, with Az...
Victoria Azarenka and Svetlana Kuznetsova provided what was perhaps the best tennis on the opening day of the Qatar Open on Monday, 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.
Azarenka’s composure slipped in the seventh game of the second as she failed to capitalise on several break points, swearing loudly towards her coach.
“I definitely missed the last six years I wanted to come (to Doha),” said two-time Doha champion Azarenka.
“We’ve been playing against each other for so long,” she said of her familiarity with Kuznetsova’s powerful style of play.
Seventh seed and Australian Open finalist, America’s Jennifer Brady, succumbed 6-1 6-2 to Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit who has only progressed as far as the second round at the last two editions in Doha.
Kontaveit kicked off the tournament by applying significant pressure on Brady in the opening exchanges, setting the stage for an upset under the cloudy Doha sky.
Brady, who had won nine of her last 11 matches prior to Doha, struggled...
