IN two contrasting tournaments, the Qatar Total Open provided plenty of one-sided results, whilst in Lyon, there were a number of two-hour plus contests to keep fans on the edge of their sets.

The remaining Round of 32 matches were completed in Doha yesterday, with a number of upsets on the cards, including a seed loss and three players from qualifying making it through to the second round. The only seed in action on the day was sixth seed Swiss talent Belinda Bencic, fresh off an Adelaide International final, going down to American Madison Keys in straight sets.

Keys won 6-4 6-1 in 67 minutes, as all six matches played were straight-set results. The longest by far was German qualifier Laura Siegemund getting up over Kazakhstan young gun, Elena Rybakina. The experienced German fought through two tiebreakers to win 7-6 7-6, of which the tiebreakers were 9-7 and 7-5. She was one of two qualifiers to make it through, with American Jessica Pegula winning 6-2 6-1 over Wang Qiang in just 75 minutes. Whilst the Siegemund-Rybakina match was two hours and 29 minutes, that surpassed the next longest match of the day by more than an hour.

Japan’s Misaki Doi took an hour and 27 minutes to dispatch of China’s Zheng Saisai 6-4 6-3, in the only other match to come close to 90 minutes of action. Making it all the more remarkable was the fact Doi was well beaten by Pegula in the final round of qualifying, but managed to get through to the first round under the lucky loser spot, and now is into the second round. Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won in 77 minutes of Kristyna Pliskova, 6-2 6-3 with the Czech one of two qualifiers to end their run at the first round of the main draw. The other was Russian Anna Blinkova who suffered defeat at the hands of Tunisian Ons Jabeur, 6-2 6-2 in 68 minutes.

QATAR TOTAL OPEN ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

Madison Keys (USA) defeated [6] Belinda Bencic (SUI) 6-4 6-1
[LL] Misaki Doi (JPN) defeated Zheng Saisai (CHN) 6-4 6-3
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated [Q] Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) 6-2 6-3
Ons Jabeur (TUN) defeated [Q] Anna Blinkova (RUS) 6-2 6-2
[Q] Laura Siegemund (GER) defeated Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 7-6 7-6
[Q] Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated Wang Qiang (CHN) 6-2 6-1

The results were more predictable in the Lyon Open, with the three seeds in action all progressing to the second round. The two Frenchwomen in Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic won through to the Round of 16, albeit not without a challenge. Third seed Garcia needed three sets to put away compatriot Oceane Dodin, 6-2 2-6 6-3, while Mladenovic spent two hours and 42 minutes on court to finally knock off Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu, 5-7 7-5 6-2.

The other Frenchwoman in action was wildcard Harmony Tan, who put up a fight, but was ultimately knocked out by Paula Badosa. The Spaniard held off the talented Tan in three sets, after the wildcard smashed her opponent in a 6-0 second set, but Badosa held firm to win 7-5 in the third set tiebreaker for a match score of 6-4 0-6 7-6. The longest match of the day belonged to Switzerland’s Stefanie Voegele and Romania’s Irina Bara, who fought it out for two hours and 53 minutes. In the end it was Voegele who posted a three-set win, 7-6 6-7 6-3 to move through to the Round of 16.

In other reusults, Russian qualifier Margarita Gasparyan defeated Ukranian Katarina Zavatska 6-4 6-1, Czech Tereza Marincova knocked out Italian qualifier Giulia-Gatto Monticone 6-2 3-6 6-2, while Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich powered past Canadian Eugenie Bouchard after a tight first set, 7-6 6-2.

LYON OPEN ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

[3] Caroline Garcia (FRA) defeated Oceane Dodin (FRA) 6-2 2-6 6-3
[4] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) defeated Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROU) 5-7 7-5 6-2
[7] Paula Badosa (ESP) defeated [WC] Harmony Tan (FRA) 6-4 0-6 7-6
Stefanie Voegele (SUI) defeated Irina Bara (ROU) 7-6 6-7 6-3
[Q]Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) defeated Katarina Zavatska (UKR) 6-4 6-1
Tereza Martincova (CZE) defeated [Q] Giulia-Gatto Monticone (ITA) 6-2 3-6 6-2
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) defeated Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) 7-6 6-2

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