It is the first Premier 5 level event of the year and all but one of the top 10 players are in attendance in Doha. With the top 8 seeds given byes though, there are some tricky matches ahead and Kerber paid the price.
(Rank/Seed)
2/2 Serena debuted in Doha with a straight forward 62 61 win over lucky loser Gavrilova.
3/3 Sharapova is now 10/10 in matches here, beating qualifier Garcia 63 62.
Barthel, the recent champion at the Paris Indoors, got her best career win and second over a top tenner this year, crushing compatriot (6/5) Kerber 61 62. Barthel has always troubled the more passive German with her bold style, now winning 2 out of 3 meetings and having held match points in the one she lost. Kerber's poor form continues as she's now lost to four non top 10 players this year.
10/10 Wozniacki eased past Salkic 61 62.
Top 20 players Bartoli, Petrova, Ivanovic, Vinci, Stephens, Safarova and Makarova all won in straight sets in their first round matches. (14/12) Kirilenko was forced to retire after only 3 games against Bychkova; no doubt aggravated through winning so much lately!
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