The first day of main-draw play was not a good one for seeded players at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates.
American teenager Ashlyn Krueger recovered from dropping the first set to oust No. 16 seed Caroline Garcia of France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
No. 11 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil was eliminated by unseeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0; and No. 14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia lost to unseeded Magdalena Frech of Poland in straight sets, 7-6 (2), 6-3.
Krueger, 19, recorded her second career win over a Top 25 player in No. 21 Garcia and her first main-draw victory in a WTA 1000 event.
Ranked No. 76, Krueger was No. 155 at this time last year before capturing her first WTA singles title in September 2023 in Osaka, Japan.
A wild-card entry into the Dubai tournament, she converted five of eight break points (62.5 percent) against Garcia and saved the exact same ratio.
Paolini, ranked No. 26 in the world but not seeded, won 10 straight games to rally past Haddad Maia.
Qualifier Frech, ranked No. 53, had lost the first 23 matches in her career against Top 20 players, but in 2024 has two such wins, against Garcia at the Australian Open and now against World No. 17 Alexandrova.
Others advancing out of the Round of 64 included Americans Sloane Stephens, Emma Navarro and Peyton Stearns — all in three-set matches. Stephens faces top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland in the Round of 32.
Other winners in straight sets included Croatia’s Donna Vekic and Germany’s Tatjana Maria. Vekic advanced to face second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the next round.
Romania’s Sorana Cirstea recorded 18 aces to overpower American Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-6 (2). Kenin saved seven of nine break points and converted her lone opportunity against Cirstea.
Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto outlasted Belgium’s Elise Mertens 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in a match lasting two hours and 24 minutes. Japan’s Nao Hibino needed two hours and 40 minutes to defeat Poland’s Magda Linette 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.
Cocciaretto moved on to face American Coco Gauff, the third seed, in the next round.
Conversely, Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya rushed past Australia’s Storm Hunter 6-1, 6-2 in 57 minutes.
The tournament field included eight of the top 10 players on the WTA Tour, with No. 5 Jessica Pegula (neck) and No. 10 Karolina Muchova (wrist) out with injuries. No. 12 Barbora Krejcikova is not defending her 2023 title in Dubai due to a back injury.
–Field Level Media
