Former top-ranked Ana Ivanovic swept past Daria Gavrilova 6-1, 6-0 Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships. The 17th-ranked Ivanovic came to Dubai after having reached the semifinals in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she lost to eventual champion Roberta Vinci. Ivanovic will play defending champion and top-seeded Simona Halep in the second round. The 21st-ranked Elina Svitolina advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova. It was the first match Svitolina played with coaching consultant Justine Henin, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, in attendance. Svitolina plays second-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain in the second round. Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic beat Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3. On Monday, the 2015 finalist Karolina Pliskova was upset by American CoCo Vandeweghe, who won her first match of the season 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 over the Czech wild card. Kristina Mladenovic beat Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 7-6 (7-1), while Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia put out Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-1. In late matches: Sara Errani of Italy beat Zheng Shuai of China 7-5, 6-3 and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia edged Swiss Belinda Bencic 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Serena out of Qatar World No. 1 Serena Williams Tuesday became the latest high-profile name to pull out of the Qatar Open, citing flu for her withdrawal. It is the latest blow for organizers coming less than a week after Maria Sharapova pulled out of the Doha tournament which starts on Feb. 21 with an arm injury. Simona Halep, the world No. 2, replaces Serena as the Qatar Open No. 1 seed. Other players scheduled to start in Doha include Garbine Muguruza, Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova. Karlovic out in 1st round In Florida, Ivo Karlovic wasn't sure he could or should try to defend his title at the Delray Beach Open. An old knee injury had flared up during the Australian Open last month, forcing the 36-year-old Croatian to retire from his first-round match and sidelining him from the practice courts ever since. Though Karlovic gamely tried to serve his way past 27-year-old qualifier John-Patrick Smith of Australia, his rust was evident and the third seed was ousted 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the opening round Monday night. The win was just the fourth main draw match victory of Smith's career and his second-best win. A four-time All-American at the University of Tennessee, Smith upset No. 25 Bernard Tomic en route to the semifinals at Newport last year. Playing with a fierce nighttime wind whipping through his shirt and his strokes, the 6-foot-11-inch Karlovic served 21 aces but also hit 11 double faults, including four in the crucial fourth game of the third set. He saved two match points but Smith closed out the win with a precision forehand passing shot. Earlier in the day, fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov persevered through a four-hour rain delay and wind gusts greater than 30mph to defeat Israeli Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-2. Also advancing was eighth-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, a semifinalist last year, who dispatched Tunisian Malek Jaziri 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.
