Svitolina, Bencic crash out of Dubai Tennis Championships

KARIM SAHIB / AFP

Defending champion Belinda Bencic and two-time winner Elina Svitolina have crashed out of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in the opening round.

Fourth seed Bencic lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 1-6, 1-6, while third seed Svitolina suffered a shock 2-6, 1-6 defeat to qualifier Jennifer Brady.

 

Elsewhere, Kristina Mladenovic overcame Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-4, 6-3 and Katerina Siniakova beat fellow Czech, Karolina Muchova 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

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