Sania-Vesnina lose in second round of Qatar Open

Qatar: The duo of Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina suffered a straight set defeat against Vera Dushevina and Shahar Peer in the second round of Qatar Open here on Wednesday. The Indo-Russian pair, seeded second in the tournament, lost the match 4-6, 4-6 in 1 hour and 12 minutes to their unseeded opponents in the $2,168,40 event.

Last week, Sania and her Australian partner Anastasia Rodionova had won the doubles title at Pattaya Open. It was Sania's 13th WTA doubles title first of the season. Last season, Sania had won three titles - two with Elena and one with Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile in the singles, last year’s finalists Vera Zvonareva (defending champion) and Caroline Wozniacki (last year's runner-up) were sent packing on Wednesday. Unseeded Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic Wednesday edged past world No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark to reach round three at the Qatar Total Open. Safarova saved three match points in game 10 of the third set and then grabbed the tie-breaker to win the pulsating match 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) in 2 hours 28 minutes. Safarova will meet 14th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the third round.

Kuznetsova crushed compatriot Maria Kirilenko 6-4, 6-4 in 83 minutes. Kuznetsova is aiming to win her first Qatar Open titles having played two finals previously.

Also Wednesday, defending champion Vera Zvonareva of Russia failed to complete her match against Monica Niculesco of Romania. Niculesco was leading 7-5, 3-2 when sixth seed Zvonareva sighted a left-hip pain for her withdrawal.