DOHA, February 12, 2019 Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic on Monday became the first player to reach the second round of the Qatar Total Open with a straight-set win over Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman. Strycova won 6-1, 6-1.
Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic on Monday beat Polona Hercog of Slovenia to reach the main round of the tournament.
Tomljanovic won 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour 46 minutes on the Center Court. Croatian-born Australian Tomljanovic, still without a WTA Tour title, fired two aces in her hard-fought win.
In another qualifying match, Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic beat Liudmila Samsonova of Russia in three sets. Muchova won 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 in 1 hour 46 minutes on Court Number 1. Muchova fired 6 aces in her gutsy win.
The qualifying match between Samantha Stosur of Australia and Russia's Anna Blinkova was stopped because of rain. Blinkova eventually won the match 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. In another qualifying match, China's Lin Zhu beat Alison Riske 6-2, 6-1.
The winner in Doha this Saturday will get $158,895 and 470 rankings points while the losing finalist will bag $84,850 and 305 points. The two losing semi-finalists get $45,320 each while the players who exit the tournament at the quarter-finals stage get richer by $24,360 each.
Simona Halep of Romania, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, Angelique Kerber of Germany and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine are the top four seeds in Qatar this week