Chinese elite player Zheng Saisai (Xinhuanet file photo)
After three qualifier wins, China's Zheng Saisai lost here Tuesday her first round match of the Dubai Duty Free Women's Tennis Open 2016 against Italian Sara Errani in two sets 7-5, 6-3.
Bologna-born Errani, ranked 22nd in the world, started somewhat nervous and had difficulties to find a concept against Zheng's clever power play in which she quickly switched from corner to corner and from the baseline to the net. But the 1.64 meter tall Italian improved and narrowed a 0-4 backlog to a 5-4 in the first set as Zheng, ranked 70th, looked increasingly tired and unfocused.
Errani, dressed in pink-white, turned the sides of the table and won the first set 7-5. The more mistakes Zheng made, the stronger Errani emerged, albeit the Italian's favorite ground is clay, not hard court.
In the second set, Zheng, dressed completely in yellow, showed a high degree of motivation to run around the match, but movements indicated her exhaustion after the Shaanxi-born won three qualifier matches in Dubai from Saturday to Monday in a row, along with a three-set doubles victory with her partner Xu Yifan on late Monday.
"I lost this match because I slowed down in the middle of the first set, as I also felt tired," admitted Zheng. Nevertheless, Zheng said she will stay in Dubai and continue to play the doubles with Xu as far as they can get at the Dubai Tennis Open which runs in its 24th edition (DDF Tennis was originally an all-men's tournament). The finals of the women's tournament will take place on Saturday, February 20.
The world's number 21 Elina Svitolina from Ukraine won against Slovakian opponent Jana Cepelova 6-3, 6-1.
Serbian elite player Ana Ivanovic, ranked 20th, left no chance for Daria Gavrilova from Australia, beating her 6-1, 6-0.
Ivanovic will encounter in round two on Wednesday Dubai Open title defender Simona Halep from Romania.
"I am ready for tomorrow's match, I feel in good shape," said Ivanovic.
Czech Barbora Strycova scored a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova.
Switzerland's Belinda Bencic started well against Jelena Jankovic from Serbia, but eventually the world's number nine lost the match 6-4, 5-7 and 4-6 after two and a half hours as both players performed on almost the same level. JJ as Jankovic is called by her fans, ranked 18th, however, showed more resilience during tricky balls and coped mentally better with her own mistakes.
The total prize money for the tournament is 4.67 million U.S. dollars, while for the women's challenge whose final will take place on February 20 a total prize money of 2 million dollars is distributed.
