Seven-time major champion Venus Williams carried her promising form in Doha to a second straight event in the Persian Gulf.  Meanwhile, American No. 2 Sloane Stephens suffered a second straight opening-round setback. 

Although Venus had not advanced deep into the Doha draw, she had delighted her fans by charging within a point of an upset over world No. 6 Petra Kvitova.  That result continued an encouraging start to 2014, which also had included a finals appearance in Auckland.  A former champion in Dubai, she received a wildcard into a draw as stacked with talent as almost any other non-major.

And Venus rewarded tournament organizers for that wildcard by avenging two recent losses to Elena Vesnina.  Best known for her doubles skills, Vesnina had defeated Venus last summer in Cincinnati.  That blow to the American on home soil followed an emphatic victory for the Russian a year before at Wimbledon, the tournament where Venus has achieved her greatest feats.

Unruffled by those memories, the elder Williams sister unleashed 10 aces while facing only a single break point in her 6-3 6-2 victory.  A key factor for Venus often is her first-serve percentage, for the dip in effectiveness from her first serve to her second serve is especially steep.  On Monday, this statistic reached a healthy 62%, and she lost only five points behind her first serve.

An unforgiving draw gives Venus little breathing room, however.  She will face either Doha runner-up Angelique Kerber or Ana Ivanovic, who defeated her in the Auckland final last month.  Still, Venus has won all of her matches against Ivanovic outside Australia, while Kerber has not produced consistent results from week to week since the start of 2013. 

Less fortunate on Monday was Sloane Stephens, downed in less than 90 minutes by the lowest-ranked woman who received direct entry into Dubai.  But this result should not have come as a surprise, despite the American’s higher ranking.  Czech lefty Lucie Safarova had enjoyed a strong week in Fed Cup and Doha last week, while Stephens had crashed out of Doha in the first round.  And it will be Safarova whose solid February continues.

An 0-2 trip to the Middle East may have owed its lackluster tone in part to a wrist injury from which Stephens has just returned.  She dropped serve five times and struggled to protect her second serve.  The gap continues to widen between her results at majors, where she has recorded five straight second-week appearances, and at non-majors, where she has won two or fewer matches at her last 18 events.

In other notable Dubai results, Ekaterina Makarova seized an all-Russian battle from Alisa Kleybanova in a 172-minute match that featured 32 break points.  Meanwhile, world No. 14 Roberta Vinci fell to 0-6 in 2014 with a routine loss to Sorana Cirstea.  Vinci’s doubles partner, fourth seed Sara Errani, will look to avenge her when she faces Cirstea in the second round.