Pavlyuchenkova makes short work of Jankovic

The holiday crowd, which expected to enjoy the National Sport Day at the Qatar Total Open yesterday, was left frustrated after persistent rain played a dampener to their plans.The Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex was drenched as relentless rain disrupted the proceedings, and officials were forced to cancel 11 first round matches. Today, the action will begin at 11am, with the tournament running way behind schedule and the organisers facing a huge task to complete a chunk of matches.Only one match could be completed yesterday, before heavens opened up again. After a lengthy delay, Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova registered an easy win over Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-1, 6-4 to book her place in the second round.Jankovic, who made it to the main draw after winning three matches in the qualifiers, ran out of energy against Pavlyuchenkova. Having slipped to 50th in the world, Jankovic is making a comeback into the Tour after serious shoulder injuries she sustained last year. Despite the loss, the former World No.1 should be happy with the workout she had in Doha, considering the troubles she had the previous year.Against Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 23rd, Jankovic struggled from the beginning, failing to match the power of her younger opponent. The 25-year-old, who had a 5-2 advantage over the Serb coming into the match, broke thrice in the first set before closing it out easily.She took a 3-2 lead in the second set, before rain halted the proceedings. After the break, the Russian closed out the match with ease. Even though she faced two break points in the 10th game, Pavlyuchenkova served out the match with a fierce forehand. She will play third seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the second round.Pavlyuchenkova came in hot after a run to the Australian Open quarter-finals, completing a career set of last eight appearances at major tournaments. But stormy weather threatened to cool off the big-hitting Russian.Even with multiple rain delays, Jankovic ultimately had few answers against Pavlyuchenkova, who hit 23 winners to just 14 unforced errors while Jankovic went 0/5 on break point opportunities.“It was quite a long day, but I’ll take it,” Pavlyuchenkova said after the match. “I’m happy to be one of the first ones done today, and it’s a nice present for myself, as well.”“I didn’t do much,” Pavlyuchenkova said of how she spent the time between play. “I was just talking with my coach, and some players as well. But I tried not to expend too much energy so I could keep as much as I could for the court. I don’t know how I managed, so I’m happy to finish this match.”Apart from the top four seeds – Angelique Kerber, Karolina Pliskova, Cibulkova and Radwanska – who received a first round bye, only Pavlyuchenkova and Samantha Stosur have reached the second round.Late Sunday night, a two-hour rain stoppage did not unduly delay Stosur as she beat Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 7-5, 6-4.The match was suspended by rain with Stosur 7-5, 4-3 up. But the Australian needed just 11 more minutes of action once the rain stopped. The World No.21 will play either eighth seed Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic or wild card Fatma al-Nabhani of Oman in the second round.