DOHA, Qatar, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Anastasia Myskina of Russia added to the struggles of fifth seed Angeles Montolio of Spain on Monday by pulling away for a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 upset victory in the opening round of the Qatar Open.
Montolio watched her losing streak grow to nine matches. She has not won since the first round at Leipzig, Austria last September. The 26-year-old finished 2001 with a four-match skid and went winless in her first four events this year.
The slide is in sharp contrast to earlier last season, when Montolio captured her first career WTA title at Estoril in April and her second at Bol, Croatia in May. Later that month, the Barcelona native reached the final at the Madrid Open in Spain.
Tatiana Panova of Russia, the seventh seed, also crashed out of the tournament in the first round as she suffered a 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) defeat at the hands of Maja Matevzic of Slovenia.
In Monday's only other main-draw match, Hungary's Petra Mandula posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over Belarus' Tatiana Poutchek.
The top seed is American Monica Seles, who is coming off Saturday's semifinal loss to Jelena Dokic in the indoor event at Paris. She also was a semifinalist at the Australian Open last month and runner-up at the Pan Pacific Open two weeks ago.
Last year's winner, Martina Hingis, is not entered.
