British number two Heather Watson was knocked out of the Abu Dhabi Open in a gruelling second-round defeat by Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Alexandrova, the 17th seed, won 7-5 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 after more than two and a half hours on court.
Czech third seed Karolina Pliskova suffered a shock defeat by Russian qualifier Anastasia Gasanova.
The 21-year-old world number 292 won 6-2 6-4 to claim her first victory over a top 100 player.
After losing the first set, Watson came from 4-1 down in the second set tie-break to level the tie.
But she was broken in the eighth game of the decider before Alexandrova served out the match.
She will play second seed Elina Svitolina in the third round, while Gasanova faces Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo.
American teenage star Coco Gauff lost 7-5 6-2 to Greece’s Maria Sakkari and Ukrainian second seed Svitolina beat Russia’s Vera Zvonareva 6-4 6-1.
