Sloane Stephens is out in Dubai after a disappointing 6-3, 7-5 loss to Lucie Safarova in the first round on Monday. It wasn’t a good showing by Stephens who was fine on her first serve but won just eight of 28 points on her second serve and was broken in five of her 11 service games. She did well against Safarova’s second serve but didn’t get enough opportunities and was really poor on her first serve.
The loss was not as bad as the one Stephens suffered in Qatar last week, Safarova is a top 30 player, but still it’s another non-Grand Slam tournament that Stephens hasn’t done much in.
In other singles action Venus Williams was impressive in a 6-3, 6-2 upset (by the numbers) over Elena Vesnina. Venus faced only one break point (which she saved) and broke Vesnina in four of her eight service games. Williams won 59 of the 97 points in the match.
In doubles action Raquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears defeated fellow American Liezel Huber and her partner Hao-Ching Chan 6-3, 7-6 (4). The two Americans took aim at the Huber/Chan second serve as they won 16 of the 19 points off of it as they broke them three times.
The other American to play on Monday was Lisa Raymond who was teamed with Shuai Zhang. Originally scheduled to face twin sisters Karolina Pliskova and Kristyna Pliskova they ended up playing Kirsten Flipkens and Petra Kvitova. Things did not start well with a 6-0 doughnut in the first set. They rebounded strong though with a 6-4 second set win and a 10-7 tiebreak victory to win the match.
Singles Draw
This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Matches highlighted in yellow are on today’s schedule. Click to expand.
The Matchups
No changes to the expected draw on Monday though Ekaterina Makarova did win in the first round to advance to a matchup with Serena Williams today.
Doubles Draw
This is the route for each American to the main draw if the higher rankings win. Green means the American on the left would be the higher ranked player, red means they would be lower ranked. Bold on an athlete indicates that match has been completed. Matches highlighted in yellow are on today’s schedule. Click to expand.
The Matchups
No changes in the expected matchups on Monday and on Tuesday we won’t see either of the three teams featuring Americans play.
Tuesday Schedule
All times ET
- Approx. 12 PM – Serena Williams vs. Ekaterina Makarova on Center Court – Serena Williams leads 2-1 all-time
