Seeds Strong To Begin

The top 10 players were in action today in the 1st round of Dubai and all four who played moved through into the second round, whilst sadly Azarenka announced her withdrawal due to a foot injury (probably she just wants a rest). There's also a pleasant change to the court surface in Dubai which is green this year, as opposed to the now overused blue.

(Rank/Seed)

7/5 Errani edged (20/-) Goerges 63 46 64. The first nine games of the third set went with serve before Errani came from 0-40 down in the tenth to ultimately break to win the match, after staying solid and avoiding her opponents lethal forehand.

8/6 Kvitova crushed qualifier Hantuchova 62 61.

9/7 Stosur handily beat (19/-) Makarova 63 61.

10/8 Wozniacki avenged a loss in their last meeting with (18/-) Safarova 62 62.

Elsewhere, (11/-) Bartoli avenged a recent loss in Shenzhen to Zakapolova 36 64 61, (12/-) Petrova fired 10 aces to edge (15/-) Cibulkova 57 63 62, (13/-) Ivanovic beat Pavlyuchenkova 63 76(5) and Vinci beat in form qualifier Kuznetsova 63 62. The only upset was Cirstea's come back win against (16/-) Stephens 57 63 62, who seems to be struggling to live up to increased expectations since her Australian Open run.