Unheralded German Anca Barna staged a spirited rally to knock out Spanish seventh seed Conchita Martinez 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the WTA Qatar Open on Tuesday.
Martinez and Barna slugged it out from the baseline for two hours and 35 minutes. The 31-year-old Spaniard took an early grip on proceedings but Barna, who has never won a WTA title, grew in stature as the match progressed.
The only other seeds in action, fifth-seeded Silvia Farina Elia and sixth-seeded Jelena Dokic both won, although Dokic was given a fright when she lost the first set against Australia's Nicole Pratt without winning a game.
Pratt hit Dokic like a storm in the first set, taking it 6-0 before the sixth seed from Serbia and Montenegro could even warm up.
But Dokic found her form and began to hit the ball to all corners of the court. She won the match 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.
"It was an up and down match," Dokic said. "She played well in the first set. I wasn't warmed up enough. But I started to focus better in the second and I am happy that I won."
Italy's Farina Elia beat Lina Krasnoroutskaya of Russia 6-3, 6-3.
Meghann Shaughnessy put on a confident display to defeat Australia's Alicia Molik 6-4, 6-3.
The American Fed Cup player got her first serves in most of the time and produced some superb returns.
Shaughnessy will next meet Japanese fourth seed Ai Sugiyama, who had a bye in the first round.
Shaughnessy, 24, broke Molik in the fifth game of the first set and then in the third and ninth games of the second for an easy victory.
"It was an important win for me. The strongest part of Molik's game is her serve," Shaughnessy said.
"But I returned well and broke her three times in the match. I was keen to get my service game good and I didn't allow her to break me."
Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova, who lost the Dubai final to world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne last week, recorded a runaway 6-1, 6-1 win over Stephanie Cohen-Aloro.
