Move FM Australian News

After getting blitzed in the first set, top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania bounced back to beat Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7) in her opening match on Wednesday in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Jabeur had won the only previous meeting (Beijing 2018) between the two, though Halep retired from that match with an injury. On Wednesday, Halep saved a match point at 6-7 in the tiebreaker and closed out the match by winning the final three points.

No. 2 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic had little trouble with France’s Kristina Mladenovic, winning 6-1, 6-2.

Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, coming off an upset of Australian Open champ Sofia Kenin, continued to impress with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Czech qualifier Katerina Siniakova.

In other action, unseeded American Jennifer Brady beat Czech Marketa Vondrousova 4-6, 6-4, 6-1; seventh-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus beat Belgium’s Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-3; eighth-seeded Petra Martic of Croatia handled Czech Barbora Strycova 6-3, 6-3; and No. 9 seed Garbine Muguruza of Spain outlasted Russian qualifier Veronika Kudermetova 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

–Field Level Media