Bencic soars, then crashes in Dubai

Holder Belinda Bencic ran off the first 19 points against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before collapsing to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 loss on Tuesday at the Dubai Championships.

Another former champion, the 2017 and 2018 winner Elina Svitolina, also fell, 6-2, 6-1, to US qualifier Jennifer Brady. Pavlyuchenkova could not have made a worse start.

"It's tennis, sometimes it happens," the 31st-ranked Russian said "You go out there and you just don't feel anything.

"I just kept on fighting, still trying to hit every ball, trying to be there "It doesn't matter what the score is, just play. Slowly I started to turn it around, I started to find my game."
"From the start, maybe she felt my presence. I was happy with the way I performed." Brady's win paved the way for fellow American and Australian Open winner Sofia Kenin, who will later begin her campaign against Elena Rybakina, winner of