Fifth-seeded Maria Sakkari ousted China’s Qinwen Zheng in three sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round at the WTA 500 event in Doha
Sakkari fired seven aces, won 36/49 (73%) first service points, 14/24 (58%) on second serves and broke serve four times.
Zheng drops to 3-4 against the Top 10 players. Sakkari has never lost to Zheng, leading 2-0 in tour-level head-to-head meetings.