Aryna Sabalenko crashed out in the second round of the WTA Dubai after a three-set loss to Donna Vekic 7-6(5), 3-6, 0-6.

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Aryna Sabalenko was eliminated by Donna Vekic at the WTA in Dubai

Donna Vekic (31 WTA) made the surprise of the day in Dubai and knocked out Aryna Sabalenko (2 WTA) in the second round.

The player from Croatia came back from losing the first set on a tiebreak to win the second set to send the match to a decider.

In the third set, Donna Vekic played fantastically and defeated the ex-WTA leader with a score of 6:0.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships runs from February 18 to 24 on hard, is part of the “WTA 1000” category and has a total prize pool of $3,211,715. Simona Halep won the tournament in 2015 and 2020, and the reigning champion is Barbora Krejcikova.

The main favorites from Dubai: Iga Svyatek (1), Aryna Sabalenko (2), Coco Gauf (3), Olena Rybakina (4), Ons Jaber (5/forfeit), Qinwen Zheng (6), Marketa Vondrousova (7), Maria Sakkari (8).

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