Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open: Ostapenko battles past Collins to reach second round

Dubai champion claims 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 victory on Day 1 at Zayed Sports City

Jelena Ostapenko defeated Danielle Collins in three sets at the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open. AP

Jelena Ostapenko began her bid for the UAE double with a hard-fought victory over Danielle Collins in the first round of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open on Monday evening.

Ostapenko, who won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title last season, recovered from a second-set wobble to claim a 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 win against 2022 Australian Open finalist Collins.

Collins took the first initiative to lead 5-3, but Ostapenko won the next four games to close out the opening set. The Latvian's momentum was immediately lost as Collins broke twice at the start of the second set for a 4-0 lead and once more to take the match into a decider.

Ostapenko drew first blood in the final set, breaking after a marathon third game, only for her American opponent to level at 4-4. The 2017 French Open champion struck out in front again at a crucial time, breaking Collins for a 6-5 lead, before clinching the victory when Collins sent a forehand return wide.

The sixth seed will take on either fast-rising Chinese star Qinwen Zheng or Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino in the second round.

In other matches, Belgium's Elise Mertens produced the most convincing victory of the day, crushing Italian Martina Trevisan 6-0, 6-2 in just 75 minutes, and Annet Kontaveit set aside her frustrating start to the season with a come-from-behind 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory over China's Shuai Zhang.

The Estonian world No 18 arrived in Abu Dhabi with a 1-3 win-loss record, but started strong against Zhang, breaking in the second game to establish a 3-0 lead. However, the Chinese world No 23 roared back to win the next five games before serving out the set.

Kontaveit pulled herself level after a second-set tiebreak but had four earlier set-point chances to take the match into the decider. The third set was another close battle, with Kontaveit earning the only break in the third game and she will take on either American Shelby Rogers or Canada's Leyla Fernandez in the next round.

Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk came through a see-saw match against Sorana Cirstea, defeating the Romanian 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 to set up a second-round match with Swiss second seed Belinda Bencic.

Day 2 will begin with Qinwen up against Marino on Court 1 from 2pm, followed by the match between Rogers and Fernandez. Singles action on Court 1 continues in the evening session with Switzerland's Jil Teichmann against Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska, and concludes with former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic taking on Romanian qualifier Elena Gabriela Ruse.

The Stadium Court schedule starts at 3pm with Brazilian sixth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia facing Czech Marie Bouzkova, before Spain's Paula Badosa plays eighth seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia.

The evening session kicks off from 7pm with arguably the match of the round as Spain's Garbine Muguruza and Czech Karolina Pliskova engage in a battle of the former world No 1s. That is followed by former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada against Ukrainian qualifier Yulia Putintseva.