Julia Goerges recovered from a set down to beat three time finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 on the day one of the Dubai Open tennis championship in Dubai on Monday.German’s Goerges staged a brilliant rally to send the last year runner-up Kuznetsova packing.

Earlier the world number 22 Maria Kirilenko knocked out Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-0 and entered the second round of the Dubai Open.

Kirilenko needed one hour and twenty four minutes to dispatch the world number 32 at the centre court on the opening day of the tournament.

The Russian had a shaky start as she was trailing in the first set but returned to dominate after being down 2-1 at one stage. After winning the first, she gave no chance to the Romanian in the second set and comfortable won it 6-0.

“I can’t say it was difficult start. It was close three games of the first set which I lost but I think I did everything right and just continued to play the same and then it was easy,” said Kirilenko.
World number 28 Flavia Pennetta defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the next round.

In other first round matches, wild card entry Shahar Peer overwhelmed Fatma Al Nabhani 6-3, 6-1, Iveta Benesova downed Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 7-5 and  Simona Halep beat Arantxa Rus 6-2, 6-2.

In the doubles, the pair of Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng outlasted Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-4 at the court number one.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been forced to withdraw from the Dubai Open due to a viral infection.

The Czech, number two seed at the $2 million tennis event, was disappointed at having to miss a tournament she had been looking forward to for months.

“I am really sorry to have gotten sick prior to the start,” she said.
Lucie Safarova will step into Kvitova’s place with a first round bye, and a qualifier will take Safarova’s place in the draw.

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