Doha, February 24

Angelique Kerber was one of at least seven seeds who crashed out of the Qatar Open on Tuesday, in the German’s first singles tournament since winning her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne last month.

The Australian Open champion lost her second round match — she received a first round bye — in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 to China’s Zheng Saisai, who is ranked 70 places below the world No 2.

And on a disastrous day in Doha for the top players, Kerber was joined by the No 2 seed Simona Halep, who lost in three sets to Elena Vesnina. Also out was defending champion and No 7 seed Lucie Safarova. She was defeated in straight sets by Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay.

Adding to the carnage, the No 6 seed Belinda Bencic, No 12 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, No 14 seed Jelena Jankovic and the No 16 seed Sara Errani also perished. But on an extraordinary day, it was Kerber’s defeat which proved the most shocking. In a lacklustre and timid performance, the German lost her serve six times, hit 38 unforced errors — Saisai hit only eight — and was beaten in just one hour and eighteen minutes as her opponent dominated.

The second set took just 28 minutes as Kerber’s game collapsed. The out-of-sorts Kerber grew increasingly exasperated with her form on a blustery night in Doha and at one point could be heard telling her coach Torben Beltz that she was tired and had no energy.

A delighted Saisai plays Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard in the third round. Bouchard beat the Czech Republic’s Denisa Allertova 7-6 (7-0), 7-5 as she continues her recovery from a traumatic end to 2015.

Halep, the 2014 Qatar Open champion, lost in three sets to Vesnina, despite taking the first on a tie-break and leading 4-1 in the second. But she eventually fell 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 1-6. “(I’m) a bit disappointed that I lost from a set and 4-1, but that’s tennis,” said the Romanian afterwards, who delayed nose surgery to play in Qatar.