Kvitova advances in Doha; Collins ousts Mertens, to face Swiatek next

Three former Qatar TotalEnergies Open champions were slated to take the court on Day 2 of the 2023 edition, and they enjoyed mixed first-round success.

Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Zhang Shuai (CHN) 7-5, 6-2

Kvitova is one of four two-time Doha champions in the tournament's history, having lifted the trophy in 2018 and 2021. Two of those, Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova, are retired. The most recent two are both in the 2023 second round, though, after Kvitova joined Victoria Azarenka with her fifth win in seven meetings with Zhang.

The Czech's 75-minute victory was one characterised by quick, first-strike points and hinged on landing first serves on important points. Kvitova fired eight aces and only conceded five points behind her first delivery overall.

Kvitova was the first to break in each set, only for Zhang to immediately peg her back both times. But Kvitova kept her nose in front to pull away in the home stretch.

Kvitova, who fell in the second round of the Australian Open to Anhelina Kalinina, improves to 6-2 overall this year. She will next face No.4 seed Coco Gauff.

Danielle Collins (USA) d. [Q] Elise Mertens (BEL) 6-4, 7-6(6)

Back in 2019, Mertens captured the first WTA 500 title of her career here in Doha. But the Belgian's ranking has fallen to No.37, and she needed to battle through two three-setters in qualifying against Magdalena Frech and Elena-Gabriela Ruse just to make the main draw.

Collins' ranking has also slipped from a career high of No.7 last July to No.42 after failing to defend her Australian Open finalist points last month, but the American's offensive game was sufficiently sharp to post her third win in four meetings over Mertens.

Mertens was beset by 10 double faults in total, seven of which came in the first set -- including an unfortunate trio the handed the set to Collins in the final game. Collins built on that momentum to lead 5-3 in the second set, only for her own radar to go awry. She ultimately needed to save a set point in the ensuing tiebreak before finding a powerful return to get over the line.

Highlights: Collins d. Mertens

Collins sets up a marquee second-round clash with No.1 seed Iga Swiatek -- the pair's first meeting since the 2022 Australian Open semifinals, their only completed match to date, which Collins won 6-4, 6-1.

Ekaterina Alexandrova d. [Q] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 6-1, 6-2

In a clash between two players right next to each other in the rankings, World No.18 Alexandrova breezed past 19th-ranked Pliskova 6-1, 6-2 in just 52 minutes to reach the second round.

Former World No.1 Pliskova, who won the Doha title in 2017 by defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final, also had to brave the qualifying rounds this week. Pliskova was ranked outside the Top 30 before her 2023 Australian Open quarterfinal run, and thus did not make the main-draw cut-off.

Pliskova was able to successfully qualify, but she ran into a roadblock right away against Alexandrova, who fired 10 aces in the match. Alexandrova also won every single point when returning the Pliskova second serve -- a perfect 13-for-13.

Alexandrova will now face No.5 seed Maria Sakkari in the second round, after Sakkari held off Zheng Qinwen. Sakkari has a commanding 5-1 lead in her head-to-head with Alexandrova.