Kuznetsova slumps to early Dubai defeat

DUBAI: Svetlana Kuznetsova was dumped out of the Dubai Championships on Monday but Ana Ivanovic avenged her Australian Open defeat by beating Alisa Kleybanova 7-5 6-4.

A year after reaching the final in Dubai, Kuznetsova's challenge ended in the second round when she fell 6-4 3-6 6-0 to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina.

Kuznetsova failed to find any rhythm except for a short spell in the second set and in the final set qualifier Vesnina had to do little more than wait for the seventh seed to make an error.