Seeds continue to tumble out in Dubai as Karolina Pliskova, Belinda Bencic, Iga Swiatek sent packing

Shahida Jacobs
Belinda Bencic in action

It was another day of disappointment some of the seeds at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday as Karolina Pliskova and Belinda Bencic lost to unseeded players while Iga Swiatek was beaten by Garbine Muguruza.

After top seed Elina Svitolan was upset by two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova on Tuesday, second seed Pliskova, sixth seed Bencic and eighth seed Swiatek followed suit.

Former world No 1 Pliskova could only manage to win two games as she was handed a 6-0, 6-2 drubbing by Australian Open quarter-finalist Jessica Pegula.

“I think I didn’t give away a lot of free points,” Pegula, who will face 10th seed Elise Mertens in the quarter-final, said. “I think serve and first ball return is what I think I did really well and I didn’t make a lot of errors. That’s what I wanted to do and I think I just stuck with my game plan pretty well and was able to execute it.”

Bencic was stunned by Russian Anastasia Potapova as the wildcard held off a second-set recovery from the Swiss to win 6-1, 2-6, 7-5.

Potapova will meet Barbora Krejcikova for a place in the semi-final after the Czech beat Pliskova’s conquerer Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2.

Eighth Swiatek, meanwhile, was brushed aside by Garbine Muguruza with the Spaniard handing out a bagel in the first set before completing a 6-0, 6-4 after a brief fightback from the Pole.

Aryna Sabalenka did manage to fly the flag for the seeds as the third-ranked Belarusian beat 15th seed Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 6-2 while American wildcard Coco Gauff booked her place in the last four with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Czech qualifier Tereza Martincova.

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