Li wins Doha opener

Doha, Qatar (SportsNetwork.com) - Australian Open champion Li Na needed three sets to win her second-round match Wednesday at the $2.44 million Qatar Open.

Playing her first tennis since capturing her second Grand Slam title last month, the top-seeded world No. 3 star got past Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 on the hardcourts at Khalifa International Tennis Complex.

In other action involving seeds, No. 4 former French Open runner-up Sara Errani subdued Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh 6-0, 6-4; No. 5 former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic drubbed Italian Karin Knapp 6-0, 6-2; No. 6 German Angelique Kerber beat Czech Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7-2), 6-4; and Czech Klara Zakopalova upended No. 9 former top-ranked star Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

This week's top-eight seeds all received opening-round byes.

Also on Day 3, Romanian Monica Niculescu got past American Bethanie Mattek- Sands 6-1, 3-6, 6-3; Czech Lucie Safarova edged out Chinese Peng Shuai, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4; Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni routed Russian and recent Paris Open champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-1; Russian wild card Alisa Kleybanova whipped Swiss Stefanie Voegele 6-3, 6-2; and German Annika Beck fought back to best Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-2.