Rybakina sends Kenin packing

DUBAI: Sofia Kenin lost her first WTA match since winning the Australian Open earlier this month as she went down 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-3 to Elena Rybakina on Tuesday at the Dubai Championships.

World number seven Kenin’s loss completed a hat-trick of seeded upsets on the fourth day of action in the United Arab Emirates.

Title holder Belinda Bencic was overhauled 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 by Anastasia Pavly­uchenkova while third seed and two-time tournament winner Elina Svitolina was hammered 6-2, 6-1 by qualifier Jennifer Brady.

American Kenin played a pair of non-Tour Fed Cup matches immediately after her Melbourne win over Garbine Muguruza, who cut short Kim Clijsters’ comeback on Monday.

The 21-year-old went down in just over two hours to her 19th-ranked opponent who stood 192nd in the world a year ago.

Kenin got away to an early break but lost it and had to win the first set in a tiebreaker. Rybakina then dominated the next two sets to reach the second round where she will face Russian Katerina Siniakova.

Kazakh Rybakina won the Hobart title in January and reached the final last weekend in St Petersburg.

Earlier, Bencic ran off the first 19 points against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before collapsing to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss. Pavlyuchenkova could not have made a worse start before advancing in 92 minutes.

The shock defeats leaves the spotlight to tournament number one Simona Halep and second-seeded Karolina Pliskova, who begin in the second round after byes.

Weekend ATP Rotterdam winner Gael Monfils watched in pain as girlfriend Svitolina went down to Brady.

Svitolina had little to offer as the 52nd-ranked Brady gained her second victory this season over a Top 10 opponent after beating Ashleigh Barty in Brisbane.

The Ukrainian’s usually steady game was nowhere to be found at the Aviation Club as first-round play concluded.

Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic beat fellow qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 6-3 to set up a second-round date with Pliskova.