DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Defending champion and top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania was ousted by Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 7-6 (2), 6-2 at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday.
The third-ranked Halep had a set point when serving at 5-4 for the first set, but netted a backhand to squander the opportunity.
The 17th-ranked Ivanovic broke Halep's serve in the first game of the second set to reach the Dubai quarterfinals for the fourth time in her career.
Halep is the sixth straight seeded player to lose their opening match in Dubai this year.
Carla Suarez Navarro, Belinda Bencic, Karolina Pliskova, Roberta Vinci and Svetlana Kuznetsova have already lost.