Originally published on: 26/02/10 13:06
Peer was unable to compete at the tournament last year when she was denied a visa for entry into the United Arab Emirates, with organisers citing security concerns.
It looked like her stay in the Emirates might be a short one this time when she lost the first set to Wickmayer, but she fought back for a 3-6 6-2 7-5 win.
Ninth seed Samantha Stosur made an early exit, losing her first-round match to Tathiana Garbin of Italy 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7/4).
Another high-profile name to perish was Nadia Petrova, who fell to Swiss wild card Stefanie Voegele in straight sets. Voegele needed two tie-breaks to beat her Russian opponent, eventually triumphing 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/5).
Twelfth seed Vera Zvonareva narrowly avoided the fate of her compatriot, edging through a tense third set to beat another Russian, Elena Vesnina, 6-4 4-6 7-5, while Flavia Pennetta beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-4 6-4.
In the day’s only second-round game, Agnieszka Radwanska – the Polish seventh seed – beat Anastasija Sevastova 6-3 6-3.
Other first-round winners included Aravane Rezai, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Virginie Razzano and Andrea Petkovic, a 2-6 6-4 6-3 winner over Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko.
Dominika Cibulkova, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Olga Govortsova and Alexandra Dulgheru also booked their places in the second round.
