Sofia Kenin was made to grind in her first match of the 2021 season as the top seed defeated qualifier Zhaoxuan Yang 7-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open on Thursday.
The two players are separated by 785 places in the world rankings but there was little to separate them in the first set that needed to be settled with a tie-break.
The second set was a bit more comfortable for the world No 4 and Australian Open champion but not as straightforward as the scoreline suggests, with Kenin saving five break points in a marathon second game.
Even as she served for the match, Kenin needed six attempts – and to fend off a break point – before she got over the line after one hour and 55 minutes on court.
Kenin will take on Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens in the second round.
Muguruza impresses in tough first round
Garbine Muguruza emerged victorious from a potentially tricky first round in Abu Dhabi as the Spanish fifth seed defeated France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-4.
The two-time Grand Slam champion was broken in the first game of the match but soon shrugged off her slow start to win six games in a row to take the opener.
After the first six games of the second set went with serve, it was former world No 10 Mladenovic who got herself out in front when she broke in the seventh game. Again, Muguruza quickly regrouped to break straight back and level the set at 4-4.
After holding serve to take a 5-4 lead, the world No 15 eventually sealed the victory after a Mladenovic passed up five chances to extend the set, with Muguruza converting her second match point.
Muguruza will face Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round after the Belarusian secured a 6-2, 6-3 win over Hungarian qualifier Anna Bondar.
Gauff races into second round
American teen sensation Cori Gauff kicked off her 2021 season with an emphatic win in Abu Dhabi, thrashing Norway's Ulrikke Eikeri 6-0, 6-1.
Gauff, 16, is one of the most exciting talents on the WTA Tour and she showed exactly why with the most one-sided result of the week so far.
The world No 48 secured three successive breaks of serve to take the first set without dropping a game and was close to the double bagel after moving into a 5-0 lead in the second.
Eikeri managed to get a game on the board but it only delayed the inevitable as Gauff sealed the win on her second match point.
Gauff will next face Greek ninth seed Maria Sakkari in one of the standout matches of the second round.
Sabalenka recovers from slow start to advance
Fourth seed Aryna Sabalenka recovered from a slow start to defeat Polona Hercog 7-6, 6-2 and reach the second round of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open.
Sabalenka entered the match on a nine-match winning streak, carried over from the end of last season, but it looked early on as though her run would be halted by Slovenia's Hercog, who broke twice to hold a 5-2 lead in the first set.
The world No 49 had two set points on her own serve and even after getting broken, had another three chances on Sabalenka's service game to claim the opener.
The Belarusian held her nerve, though, but after levelling at 5-5, dropped her serve again to give Hercog another just to serve out the set. Sabalenka responded by breaking to love to take the set into a tie-break, which she won 7-5.
From there, it was all Sabalenka in the second set as the world No 10 earned two breaks to move into a 4-0 lead. She sealed the victory with a love service hold after one hour, 47 minutes and will face Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic in the second round.
Sabalenka: "She was playing really in the beginning and I wasn't. I wasn't moving well and I couldn't find my rhythm. I am really happy that in these conditions I was able to find a way to win this match.
"I was just focused on putting as many balls in play as I could because I didn’t have my serve, forehand or backhand [working] – I just had my character and I was trying to use it as much as I could to keep fighting for every point."
Sorribes Tormo takes out Podoroska
Sara Sorribes Tormo took advantage of an errant serving display from Nadia Podoroska to book her place in the second round of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open.
World No 47 Podoroska produced seven double faults and gave her opponent too many opportunities as Sorribes Tormo converted six of 14 break points en route to a 6-3, 6-3 win on Court 1.
After taking an early 2-0 lead in the first set, Sorribes Tormo was pegged back to 2-2 and after both players held firm on serve for four games, the Spaniard eventually earned her breakthrough in the eighth game before serving out the opener.
Podoroska and Sorribes Tormo exchanged breaks throughout the second set, but it was the Argentine who struggled most on serve and it summed up her frustrating performance that she lost the match after another poor service game.
Sorribes Tormo will take on American Bernarda Pera in the second round.
Rybakina storms into second round
Elena Rybakina started her season in style by thrashing qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women's Tennis Open.
Rybakina, seeded sixth in Abu Dhabi, had too much class and power for her 394th-ranked opponent, cruising into a 5-0 lead. The Kazakhstani had the chance for a first set sweep but Stefanini fended off the set point. Rybakina then sealed the opener with ease in the next game.
Stefanini put up a better fight in the second set, even breaking Rybakina back to level at 3-3, but there was always only going to be one winner as the world No 19 wrapped up the victory with a backhand winner down the line after just one hour.
The last time Rybakina competed in the WTA tournament in the UAE, she reached the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last year, narrowly losing to Simona Halep in one of the best matches of the season.
