Muguruza, Swiatek stunned as top seeds tumble at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships 2022

Muguruza, Swiatek stunned as top seeds tumble at the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships 2022

Garbine Muguruza and Iga Swiatek

There was a huge exodus of seeds as 5 of the top 10 seeds crashed out in the second round of the ongoing WTA Dubai Tennis Championships 2022.

The day started with 10th seed Elina Svitolina being knocked out by lucky loser Jil Teichmann in straight sets. Then Garbine Muguruza and Iga Swiatek received the same fate. The massive upsets continued through the day as both the top seeds, Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova also lost their respective second-round encounters.

Defending champion Garbine Muguruza failed to capitalize her first set advantage as she lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Veronika Kudermetova. Despite having a shaky start to her 2022 season, this came off as a huge upset as Muguruza was yet to lose a match against the Russian and was one of the favorites to win the tournament. However, her title defense ended with a disappointing exit.

FS Video

Iga Swiatek soon followed Muguruza’s suit as she lost her second-round tie against former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 1-6, 6-7. Both the players struggled to hold their service games throughout the match, as Ostapenko made 9 double faults to Swiatek’s 4. After trading a break of serves in the first set, Swiatek got the decisive break to win the set. But Ostapenko bounced back to win the second set comfortably and force a decider. Swiatek was serving for the match, but the Pole failed to close out the set and lost in the subsequent tiebreaker.

Only one seeded players remains in the tournament

Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur

Ons Jabeur is the only seeded player remaining in the tournament. The Tunisian won her second-round tie in straight sets against Australian Open quarter-finalist Jessica Pegula to progress to her maiden quarter-final in Dubai. This is her 9th quarter-final appearance in the last 11 tournaments.

Meanwhile, 2020 champion Simona Halep, who entered the tournament without a coach, put on a dominant display as she breezed past compatriot Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 6-2. She will be next up against Ons Jabeur in the quarter-final.

YouTube video

Also read: ATP Marseille 2022: Stefano Travaglia vs Ilya Ivashka, Head-to-Head, and, Live Stream Details for Open 13 Provence