Dubai tennis: Second seed Pliskova falls to Pegula

Seeds continued to bite the dust in the WTA Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with second seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic falling to American Jessica Pegula in the third round on Wednesday.

World No.6 Pliskova, runner-up to Romanian Simona Halep here in 2015, went down in straight sets 6-0, 6-2 in 53 minutes, on Centre Court, at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre.

Pegula and Pliskova served two aces each but the latter had seven double faults to the American’s one.

The top two seeds are now out of the tournament with top seed and world No.5 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, back-to-back Dubai champion in 2017 and 2018, going down to Russian world No.41 Svetlana Kuznetsova, a three-time runner-up here in 2004, 2008 and 2011, in the second round on Tuesday.