Emotional Bencic and Vinci crash out in Dubai
Jelena Jankovic proved she remains a force to be reckoned with at the Dubai Tennis Championships by outlasting teenager Belinda Bencic.
Belinda Bencic and Roberta Vinci contested last week's St Petersburg Ladies Trophy final, but they were both sent packing in round one of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
Fifth seed Bencic, runner-up in Russia, climbed into the world's top 10 for the first time following her run in St Petersburg but the Swiss failed to keep her emotions in check during a three-set loss to former world number one Jelena Jankovic.
Bencic appeared to be struggling physically and surrendered a first-set lead in a 4-6 7-5 6-4 defeat to the Serb.
The match seemingly swung in game eight of the second set when Jankovic immediately broke back to level at 4-4, and Bencic saved five set points in a gruelling game 12 before failing to rescue a sixth.
Bencic appeared to be in tears at the end of the set and Jankovic made the only break of the decider in game 10 to earn a spot in round two.
Vinci's victory in Russia also appeared to take its toll as she was whitewashed in a lacklustre first set and, although she fought back to force a third, the Italian fell to a 6-0 4-6 6-3 defeat to Yaroslava Shvedova.
Shvedova hit 47 unforced errors, but she dominated from the baseline and 43 winners had last year's US Open finalist on the back foot at the key moments.
Ana Ivanovic was in supreme form in a 6-1 6-0 demolition of Daria Gavrilova, hitting 19 winners and just 16 unforced errors in a commanding display.
Elsewhere, Barbora Strycova was a 6-4 6-3 victor over Tsvetana Pironkova, while Elina Svitolina saw off Jana Cepelova 6-3 6-1 and Sara Errani defeated Saisai Zheng 7-5 6-3.