Elina Svitolina's bid for a third title in four years at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships ended at the first hurdle on Tuesday after the Ukrainian third seed fell to a shock 6-2, 6-1 defeat to qualifier Jennifer Brady.
Svitlona, champion in 2017 and 2018 and semi-finalist last year, produced an error strewn performance against the American world No 52, whose greater aggression and power led her to a convincing victory.
After five games, the match appeared to be on an even keel with both players holding firm on serve. However, from there it was mostly one-way traffic in favour of Brady, who restricted Svitolina to just three points for the rest of the first set.
There was no let up from Brady after taking the opener as the American eased into a 4-0 lead in the second set. Svitolina managed to pull one of the breaks back to get on the board at 4-1, only to meekly surrender her serve the next game.
Brady then closed out the match and booked her place in the second round with an ace. The American faces French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the next round.
