Day two at the Qatar Total Open saw the completion of the first round as well as the start of the second round with two matches taking place. One of those two was American Amanda Anisimova further deepening the early season woes of fifth seed Elina Svitolina.
Anisimova ousts Svitolina; Bertens, Rybakina move on
One of two second round matches to be played saw the 18-year old American strike 27 winners and converted on half of her break point chances (three of six) to post a routine 6-3, 6-3 victory over two-time champion Svitolina, who has reached just one quarterfinal in 2020 which came at Hua Hin two weeks ago.
The other second round contest on Monday was seventh seed Kiki Bertens knock off Karolina Muchova 6-2, 6-4 to join Anisimova in the third round despite a second set wobble that saw the Dutchwoman nearly blow a 5-1 lead.
14th seed Elena Rybakina continued her brilliant start to 2020 with her 20th match win of the season, rallying from a set down to defeat Sorana Cirstea 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to set up a second round meeting with Alison Van Uytvanck.
Sakkari comes through against Goerges; Martic, Vondrousova upset
While 15th seed Maria Sakkari eased past the dangerous Julia Goerges, 10th seed Petra Martic and 12th seed Marketa Vondrousova weren't as fortunate. The Croat and Czech each wasted one-set leads.
Barbora Strycova rallied past Martic 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 while Zheng Saisai recovered to knock out Vondrousova 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. 17th seed Donna Vekic was also sent packing by Iga Swiatek 6-4, 7-5. Strycova next squares off with Jelena Ostapenko while Swiatek faces Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Yastremska, Zvonareva lead rest of first round winners
The remainder of the opening round victors were Dayana Yastremska, who saw off Kirsten Flipkens 6-2, 6-4 to next play Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin as well as Vera Zvonareva, getting past Su-wei Hsieh 6-4, 6-4 to play Zheng in round two.
Anett Kontaveit defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 7-6 (5) to reach round two where she will play ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka, Yulia Putintseva beating lucky loser Timea Babos 6-3, 6-4. Next up for the Kazakh is defending champion Elise Mertens.
Finally, Carla Suarez Navarro bested Shuai Zhang 7-5, 6-0 to set up a second round clash with eighth seed Petra Kvitova while qualifier Tereza Martincova came through against lucky loser Misaki Doi 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to set up a meeting with Sakkari in round two.