Dubai Open: Vekic books spot in last 16, shocks Sabalenka

Croat Donna Vekic advanced to the last 16 of the Dubai Open by winning against Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0 at The Aviation Club Tennis Centre on Tuesday.

It is Vekic’s first win against a player ranked in the top 10 since she finished as runner-up in Berlin in 2023, defeating both Elena Rybakina and Maria Sakkari on the way.

Vekic, ranked No 31, will face Romanian Sorana Cirstea next.

Ahead of her victory, the Croat defeated Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-2, 6-4).

This was Sabalenka’s first match since winning the Australian Open in January.

Indeed, the last time the two met was in Melbourne last year, when the Belarusian beat the Croat in the quarter-finals en route to her first-ever Grand Slam title.

Dubai WTA 1000, other second-round results (The Aviation Club Tennis Centre, hard, USD 3.211.715, most recent results first):

• Coco Gauff vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
• Iga Swiatek vs. Sloane Stephens
• Karolina Pliskova vs. Ashlyn Krueger
• Nao Hibino vs. Qinwen Zheng
• Victoria Azarenka vs. Elena Rybakina
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Lulu Sun
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Tatjana Maria vs. Elina Svitolina: tuesday
• Sorana Cirstea beat Veronika Kudermetova (13): 6-1, 6-4
• Anna Kalinskaya (Q) beat Cristina Bucsa (LL): 6-3, 6-4
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Magdalena Frech (Q) beat Petra Martic: 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
• Marketa Vondrousova (7) beat Peyton Stearns: 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
• Jasmine Paolini beat Leylah Fernandez: 6-3, 6-4
• Maria Sakkari (8) beat Emma Navarro: 6-2, 6-4