On an action-packed Wednesday in Doha, third seed Dominika Cibulkova recorded a second-round victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the only player who had finished her round one match on a rain-affected Tuesday at the Qatar Total Open.
The world No.23 Pavlyuchenkova was the first to establish a considerable lead, going 5-2 in the first set. However, her big advantage wasn't due to Cibulkova's inferiority, rather, Pavlyuchenkova's better performance in a few crucial points, i.e. break points. Just as we expected the Russian to finish the job, her game level dropped significantly and Cibulkova, who had enjoyed a first-round bye, raced away with five straight games to win the opening set 7-5.