Jankovic wins Dubai opener

Published November 20, 2014

Former world No. 1 Jelena round winners at the $2 million Dubai Duty Free Championships.

The eighth-seeded Jankovic, the 2005 Dubai runner-up, blew past Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-2, 6-2 in 73 minutes on the hardcourts at Dubai Tennis Stadium.

Meanwhile, Italian Flavia Pennetta pasted Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 6-3; Israeli wild card Shahar Peer pummeled wild card Fatma Al Nabhani of Oman 6-3, 6-1; German Julia Goerges came back to beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4; and Russian Maria Kirilenko clobbered Romanian Monica Niculescu 6-3, 6-0 on Day 1. The former top-five star Kuznetsova was last year's Dubai runner-up to Caroline Wozniacki. The two-time major champion Kuznetsova was also the runner-up here in 2004 and 2008.

This week's top seeds are high-flying world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, the former No. 1 Wozniacki of Denmark and last week's Doha runner-up to Azarenka, U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia. Second-seeded Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova pulled out of the draw here due to an illness.

The Belarusian Azarenka will open her Dubai stay against Goerges.

Azarenka, who was the Dubai runner-up two years ago, is off to a flawless 17-0 start this season, with three titles, including an Australian Open championship last month.

The 2012 Dubai champion will earn $446,778.

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