Bencic, Svitolina in action on Day 2 of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships

Defending champion Belinda Bencic kicks off her campaign in Dubai on Tuesday, as she faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in first round action.

The World No.4 leads 4-1 in career meetings, although she lost her only outdoor hard court match against the Russian at Washington in 2015. Bencic will be looking to successfully defend a WTA title for the first time in her career.

Elina Svitolina takes a 1-0 career lead against American Jennifer Brady. Having triumphed here twice in 2017 and 2018, Svitolina will be looking to reclaim her title.

Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin faces in-form Elena Rybakina in the first round. This will be Kenin's first WTA match since winning her first Major title in Australia, although she did participate in the Fed Cup qualifiers two weeks ago. Conversely, Rybakina is coming off a runner-up performance in St. Petersburg and has been playing some incredible tennis this season.

Greece's Maria Sakkari takes on Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in what should be a hard-hitting match, while eighth seed Petra Martic battles 2019 semifinalist Hsieh Su-Wei. Hsieh has yet to win a match in 2020, but leads Martic 2-1 in career meetings so perhaps she will finally break through in Dubai.

In a clash between two Czech qualifiers, Karolina Muchova takes on Katerina Siniakova. France's Kristina Mladenovic also faces Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich in another qualifier battle.

Russian Veronika Kudermetova takes on Ukrainian youngster Dayana Yastremska, while Romanian qualifier Sorana Cirstea faces Australian Open quarterfinalist Anett Kontaveit.

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