AMANDA Anisimova has won her first match since the ASB Classic a month and a half ago by downing in-form Russian, Ekaterina Alexandrova in the Qatar Open Round of 64. The Doha event began with the first 12 matches getting underway, most of which were one-sided affairs.

Anisimova’s win was in straight sets, but after back-to-back losses at Melbourne Park and in Dubai, the 6-3 7-6 victory was crucial for her confidence. The 21-year-old battled hard to get past the determined Russian, in a match that took 93 minutes. She won 70.7 per cent of her first serve points and 56.5 per cent of her second serve points, breaking twice compared to once. It was far from a terrible performance from the Russian, who was solid but not able to play the same form that saw her win back-to-back tournaments and go reach the semi-finals in St Petersburg last week. Anisimova now has a massive clash against fifth seed Ukrainian, Elena Svitolina in the Round of 32.

Also no doubt relieved with the win was eleventh seed and Australian Open runner-up, Garbine Muguruza who just survived against 73rd ranked Russian, Daria Kasatkina. The Grand Slam-winning Spaniard took almost three hours to finally get rid of the 22-year-old, downing her 7-5 5-7 6-3 in an entertaining contest. She held off a whopping 22 break point opportunities during the match, but did concede on eight occasions. By contrast, Muguruza was much more clinical with her chances, breaking nine times from 12 opportunities and winning a massive 73.9 per cent off Kasatkina’s second serve. There was not much to separate the players, with Muguruza moving through to the next round to face Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic, as a potential Australian Open rematch is on offer in the Round of 16 if sixth seed, Sofia Kenin can make it there.

Tomljanovic made her way through to the Round of 32 with a 6-2 6-4 win over compatriot, Priscilla Hon. She joined Ash Barty in the second round with the number one seed having a bye and will now face Germany’s Laura Siegemund who defeated Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3 6-2. Also through to the next round is Belgian, Alison Van Uytvanck, Turkey’s Ons Jabeur and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko who all recorded wins. United States’ Bernarda Pera is up against third seed, Karolina Pliskova following an upset 6-3 6-1 victory over Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, while Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Veronika Kudermetova also booked spots in the Round of 32. To round out the results, 16th seed Elise Mertens and Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova breezed through to the next round.

ROUND OF 64 RESULTS:

[11] G. Muguruza (ESP) defeated D. Kasatkina (RUS)
[16] E. Mertens (BEL) defeated Q. Wang (CHN) 6-2 6-1
J. Ostapenko (LAT) defeated K. Teichmnn (SUI) 7-5 2-6 7-5
A. Van Uytvanck (BEL) defeated P. Hercog (SLO) 6-2 6-2
A. Tomljanovic (AUS) defeated P. Hon (AUS) 6-2 6-4
L. Siegemund (GER) defeated Y. Shvedova (KAZ) 6-3 6-2
O. Jabeur (TUN) defeated K. Siniakova (CZE) 6-3 6-2
B. Pera (USA) defeated C. Garcia (RA) 6-3 6-1
K. Muchova (CZE) defeated M. Linette (POL) 6-3 6-1
V. Kudermetova (RUS) defeated K. Mladenovic (FRA) 7-6 0-6 6-3
A. Anisimova (USA) defeated E. Alexandrova (RUS( 6-3 7-6
S. Kuznetsova (RUS) defeated C. Buyukakcay (TUR) 6-2 6-2