Packed day in the books, more to come tomorrow!
The busiest day of the tournament is done and dusted! Big wins for Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, and Karolina Pliskova. Elena Rybakina, defending champion Jelena Ostapenko, and former winners Belinda Bencic and Petra Kvitova are also through.
Early exits for Carolina Garcia, Maria Sakkari, and Daria Kasatkina.
Some huge matches in store for Wednesday's second round - we'll see you then!
Swiatek happy with 'solid performance'
Iga Swiatek bulldozed her way through to the third round earlier this evening and described her performance as "solid". A 6-1, 6-1 win over 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez? Yeah, you could "solid" is about right...
"It was a really solid performance. I'm happy I could play so well because it's the first match here and I didn't really have time to adjust to the conditions," she said. "I'm just happy that I could put pressure on Leylah, and I kept going, and I didn't lose my focus throughout all these games. Yeah, I'm happy about it."
The world No 1, who arrived in Dubai after a cakewalk to the Qatar Open title, is very much up and running in the Emirates.
Rybakina also through
Moments after posting, Elena Rybakina has indeed booked her place in the third round and a clash with fifth seed Coco Gauff.
The Wimbledon champion and recent Australian Open finalist, seeded ninth this week, was too strong for Marie Bouzkova in a 7-5, 62 victory.
And with that, a jam-packed day of tennis has come to an end!
Gauff opens with impressive win
American fifth seed Coco Gauff gets her Dubai campaign up and running with an impressive 6-0, 6-4 win over Belarus' Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
Gauff looks likely for a blockbuster third-round showdown with Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. The ninth seed is serving for the match against Marie Bouzkova.
Swiatek eases through
Iga Swiatek picked up where she left off from Doha with another dominant victory. This time, the world No 1 races past Leylah Fernandez 6-1, 6-1.
Congratulations to the Canadian for picking up a game in each set: each of Swiatek's last three opponents were dealt one 6-0 set each.
The top seed faces Russian 14th seed Liudmila Samsonova in the third round.
First set Swiatek
And the world No 1 wraps up the first set 6-1. It's all looking quite ominous for Fernandez, who is yet to hold serve.
Swiatek concedes a game!
But wait! Swiatek has just conceded a game! On her own serve! Have the wheels fallen off? Is a collapse imminent? Nope, she breaks again for a 5-1 lead.
Swiatek starts strong
In a surprise to absolutely no one, top seed Iga Swiatek has come flying out of the blocks in her first match in Dubai, racing into a 4-0 lead against 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez.
Bencic stays alive
Bencic heading for early exit?
Few players have enjoyed as much success in the UAE as Belinda Bencic but the Swiss eighth seed is in danger of an early exit in Dubai.
Olympic champion Bencic, who won the 2019 Dubai title and the inaugural Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open title this month, is down a set and a break against Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk over on Court 1.
Sabalenka sails through
The performance of a Grand Slam champion. Aryna Sabalenka, back on court for the first time since winning the Australian Open, needs only an hour to march through her second round contest with Lauren Davis.
The Belarusian second seed was dominant from start to finish in a 6-0, 6-1 victory, and has set up the tie of the third round against defending champion Jelena Ostapenko. Get the popcorn ready.
Ostapenko means business
Fresh from opening her title defence in style on Monday, Jelena Ostapenko returned to the court for an even more emphatic victory, cruising past Linda Fruhvirtova 6-2, 6-0.
The Latvian 13th seed's defence will face the ultimate test in the third round...
Sabalenka claims first set bagel
No messing about from the second seed, who wraps up the first set against Lauren Davis 6-0 in 28 minutes. Sabalenka won 26 of 36 points. Total domination from the Belarusian so far.
UAE's future tennis stars treated to clinic
More than 20 boys and girls were treated to a coaching clinic with Zhang Shuai, a two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, and Giuliana Olmos, who has won five doubles titles.
The pair are partners on the circuit and seeded fourth for this week’s tournament at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium.
Shuai and Olmos put the youngsters through their paces with a number of drills and mini doubles matches.
Sabalenka off to a flyer
Aryna Sabalenka has been enjoying the past few weeks as the Australian Open champion, her appearance in Dubai marking her first return to tournament action since that Grand Slam breakthrough.
No rust from the world No 2, though, who moves into a 3-0 lead against Lauren Davis.
Kvitova too good
Petra Kvitova put on a serving masterclass to ease into the third round. The Czech world No 15 claimed a break in each set to beat Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 6-4.
It sets up an enticing all-Czech contest as the two-time Wimbledon champion faces former French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova, with the winner set to advance to the quarter-finals.
Pegula recovers from wobble to advance
Jessica Pegula is through to the third round but not before a mid-match wobble. The American third seed looked set for a breezy afternoon when she led Viktoriya Tomova 6-2 but soon found herself trailing 5-1 in the second set.
Despite clawing back to 5-5, Pegula lost the set but regrouped well to blast past the Bulgarian world No 99 for a 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 victory.
A finalist at the Qatar Open last week, world No 3 Pegula will face either fellow American Shelby Rogers or Romania's Ana Bogdan for a place in the Dubai quarter-finals.
Kvitova on course
No such issues so far for 2013 Dubai champion Petra Kvitova, who leads Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva by a set and a break (6-4, 4-3).
The Czech world No 15 is on course to face compatriot Barbora Krejcikova in the third round.
Shock on the cards?
Tournament third seed Jessica Pegula looked on course for comfortable passage to the third round when she took the first set 6-2 against Viktoriya Tomova.
But the Bulgarian world No 99 has won the second 7-5 to take this Centre Court match to a decider. Pegula actually trailed 5-1 and fought back to level at 5-5 (saving six set points in the process), only to stumble again to hand a crucial break to Tomova at 6-5.
Will the American world No 3 regroup and avoid a major shock?
Zheng withdraws
There will be no rematch between Qinwen Zheng and Liudmila Samsonova after the Chinese world No 24 withdrew from the tournament ahead of their second round match.
Russian 14th seed Samsonova, who defeated Zheng in the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open semi-finals earlier this month, awaits the winner of top seed Iga Swiatek's match against Leylah Fernandez.