DOHA — Former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic eased into the second round of the Qatar Open with straight-set victories Monday. The 10th-ranked Wozniacki beat qualifier Mervana Jugic-Salkic of Bosniz-Herzegovina 6-1, 6-2. The Dane had a poor start, losing her serve in the first game. But she broke right back and then cruised from there, wrapping up the win in just over an hour. The 13th-ranked Ivanovic beat Tamira Paszek 6-1, 6-2. Ivanovic broke the 26th-ranked Austrian twice in the first set, then saved three break points to go up 4-2 in the second. She broke Paszek again to make it 5-2 and sealed the victory when the Austrian hit a return long. In other matches Simona Halep of Romania beat Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-1, 6-0; Caroline Garcia of France beat Fatma Al-Nabhani of Oman 6-2, 6-3; Daria Gavrilova of Russia beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia beat Zheng Jie of China 6-2, 6-3. Serena Williams, meanwhile, has the chance to reclaim the No. 1 ranking at the Qatar Open, a spot the 15-time major champion has not held since October 2010. The second-ranked Williams will become No. 1 if she reaches the semifinals of the tournament, which started Monday and features nine of the top 10 players. If Williams falters, top-ranked Victoria Azarenka can guarantee herself the No. 1 spot by reaching the final. Third-ranked Maria Sharapova also has a chance to return to the top if she wins the tournament, Williams fails to advance to the semifinals and Azarenka doesn't reach the final. Sharapova last held the No. 1 ranking for four weeks in 2012 after the French Open. Williams is coming off an Australian Open in which she looked dominant at times but eventually lost in the quarterfinals to American teen Sloane Stephens. She also got injured along the way, hurting her right ankle in the first round against Edina Gallovits-Hall and then her back in the loss to Stephens. Simon beats Brands In Rotterdam, fifth-seeded Gilles Simon beat Belgian qualifier Daniel Brands 7-6 (3), 6-4 Monday in the first round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament. The Frenchman struggled with his serve in the first set as both players broke twice before Simon comfortably won the tiebreaker on the indoor hardcourt at Ahoy arena. Simon broke Brands once to take the second set and wrap up the match in 92 minutes. In the tournament's first upset, Romania's Victor Hanescu beat seventh-seeded Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 7-6 (4), 6-3, while Bernard Tomic of Australia lost a hard-fought first round-match to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. — Agencies
