Qatar Open: Sakkari battles through to set up Swiatek clash

Greek Maria Sakkari advanced to the second round of the Qatar Open when Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse retired on Sunday at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.

Sakkari, ranked No 29, led 4-6, 6-3, 4-0 when Ruse, ranked No 112, pulled out on Sunday afternoon at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.

The Greek will play second seed Iga Swiatek next.

Doha WTA 1000, other first-round results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 3.664.963, most recent results first):

• Yulia Putintseva vs. Moyuka Uchijima
• Donna Vekic vs. Linda Noskova
• Anhelina Kalinina vs. Rebecca Sramkova
• Dayana Yastremska vs. Peyton Stearns
• Aoi Ito vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Ashlyn Krueger vs. Sofia Kenin
• McCartney Kessler vs. Ons Jabeur
• Paula Badosa vs. Katerina Siniakova
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Magda Linette
• Marketa Vondrousova vs. Elina Svitolina
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Polina Kudermetova
• Amanda Anisimova vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Emma Raducanu vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Magdalena Frech vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Elina Avanesyan vs. Xinyu Wang
• Katie Volynets vs. Mirra Andreeva
• Liudmila Samsonova vs. Lulu Sun: sunday
• Marta Kostyuk vs. Zeynep Sonmez: sunday
• Leylah Fernandez beat Greet Minnen (Q): 6-1, 6-2
• Elise Mertens beat Clara Tauson: 6-0 ret.
• Cristina Bucsa (Q) beat Anna Kalinskaya (14): 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4
• Caroline Garcia (WC) beat Yue Yuan: 6-1, 7-6 (5)
• Alycia Parks (Q) beat Diana Shnaider (11): 6-4, 7-6 (2)