WTA Doha, ATP Rotterdam: Ivanovic and Barthel cruise, Dimitrov beats Tomic

Ana Ivanovic

1st round action kicked off in Doha today where Ana Ivanovic, Caroline Wozniacki and Mona Barthel all won in straight sets. Ivanovic dispelled any injury worries with a 6-1 6-2 rout of a woeful Tamira Paszek, who has won just one of her six matches in 2013. I bet she is longing for the grass court season although even then, I question whether she will be a threat based on her current form.  Wozniacki eased past the very lucky loser, Mervana Jugic-Salkic, meanwhile Barthel beat the wild child Yulia Putintseva, 6-4 6-2.  

In other Doha matches, Anastasia Rodionova strolled past Zheng Jie in straight sets and Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame Bethanie Mattek-Sands in a topsy-turvy and tight two setter, 7-6(1) 6-4.  Doha was a generally solid day of predictions, but Rotterdam was a total disaster.  I think it is a rather impressive feat to have gotten every prediction wrong... Grigor Dimitrov edged Bernard Tomic, 6-3 3-6 6-3, Jerzy Janowicz fell to Victor Hanescu and Marcel Granollers lost to the qualifier Matteo Viola, 5-7 6-3 6-1.

Doha has an excellent schedule for tomorrow with the 1st round match between Marion Bartoli and Francesca Schiavone and the 2nd round match between Mona Barthel and Angelique Kerber the highlights of the day.  In Rotterdam, Juan Martin Del Potro will take on Gael Monfils in the late night match.

Doha 2nd Round Predictions:

Maria Sharapova to beat Caroline Garcia in 2 sets

Serena Williams to beat Dina Gavrilova in 2 sets

Mona Barthel to beat Angelique Kerber in 3 sets *upset alert*

You can keep up to date with how well my original predictions are doing in Doha and Rotterdam.