DOHA: Top seed Angelique Kerber crashed out of the Qatar Open on Tuesday, losing her first tournament match since winning the Australian Open last month.
An out-of-sorts Kerber lost in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 to China’s Zheng Saisai, who is ranked 71 places below the world No.2.
In a lacklustre performance, the German lost her serve six times throughout the match, hit 38 unforced errors — Saisai hit only eight — and was beaten in just one hour and eighteen minutes as her opponent dominated.
The second set took just 28 minutes as Kerber’s game collapsed.
Kerber, who has not played any singles tournaments since winning against Serena Williams in Melbourne on January 30, grew increasingly exasperated with her form and at one point could be heard telling her coach Torben Beltz that she was tired and had no energy.
Saisai will play Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in the third round.
Bouchard beat the Czech Republic’s Denisa Allertova 7-6 (7-0), 7-5 as she recovers from her injury-strewn 2015.
Also through on Tuesday was Petra Kvitova who won 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 against Czech compatriot Barbara Strycova.
Berdych cruises
Tomas Berdych marked his tenth appearance at the Dubai Tennis Championships with a 6-1, 6-4 thumping of Joao Sousa to reach the second round on Tuesday.
The Czech seventh seed who arrived in the Gulf after a semifinal last weekend in Marseille, has twice finished a finalist at the Aviation Club and has reached the semis here at four of the last five editions.
The ATP No.7 improved to 21-9 at the event as he prepares to face 144th-ranked Thomas Fabbiano after the Italian defeated Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-3, 6-4.
Berdych won his opening set in just 23 minutes but had to come out on top in the second set after an exchange of three consecutive breaks to deny Sousa any chance of beating a top 10 player for only the second time in his career.
Berdych double-faulted on a first match point but fired over an ace on the second to advance.
“He was struggling in the first set, he could only get better,” the winner said.
“He started to play a little bit more solid, a little bit more aggressive from his forehand side, his stronger one.
“He pushed me a bit more, but overall my performance was quite good. it’s good to go through and not make things too complicated.”
Spanish fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut kept up the winning pace he has established this season as he claimed his 15th victory of 2016, defeating Italian Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-4.
Spain’s number three has made his best career start and already owns trophies in Auckland and Sofia.
“It’s been the best start for me, so I have to be confident for sure,” the Spaniard said as he prepared to face South Korea’s Chung Hyeon in the second round.
“I feel great on the court, and I feel I have a lot of rhythm. I played a lot of matches. It’s good to win matches and to have confidence.
“I served really well and played very solid during all the match. I was returning well and pushing a lot of pressure on him.”
German eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Marsel Ilhan 6-1, 7-5 while Croatian youngster Borna Coric defeated Czech Jiri Vesely 6-4, 6-4.
Second seed Stan Wawrinka, playing Dubai for the first time in eight years, was opening later against Sergiy Stakhovsky, whom he battled last week in France.
Marseille winner Nick Kyrgios was making his local debut as he played Martin Klizan, the seventh seed.
