Pe’er clobbered by Bartoli in Doha

Shahar Pe’er suffers her most lopsided defeat in almost a year losing 6- 1, 6-0 to Marion Bartoli in the second round of the Qatar Ladies Open.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Pe’er (photo credit: Nousha Salimi/AP)
Shahar Pe’er
(photo credit: Nousha Salimi/AP)
Shahar Pe’er suffered her most lopsided defeat in almost a year on Wednesday, losing 6- 1, 6-0 to Marion Bartoli in the second round of the Qatar Ladies Open in Doha.
The 23-year-old Israeli, ranked number 12 in the world, recorded an impressive victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova (13) in the first round in Doha, but was completely outplayed by Bartoli (18), whom she had beaten in seven of their previous nine meetings.
“Shahar has dominated me in the past, so it was nice to get a win against her,” said Bartoli, who had three break points in the only game Pe’er won.
The last time Pe’er won just one game in a match was in a defeat to Kim Clijsters in the third round in Miami last March.
Pe’er will return to action in two weeks in the $4,500,000 event in Indian Wells, California.
Seeded players Francesca Schiavone and Li Na also lost in straights sets in the second round in Qatar.
Third-seeded Schiavone lost 7-5, 6-3 to Peng Shuai of China, while fourth-seeded Li was beaten 6-2, 6-1 by Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.
Peng broke Schiavone twice in each set and will play Bartoli in the quarterfinals.
“Playing against Francesca is always difficult, but I was the better player today,” Peng said.
“She tested me in the first set, but I was more determined.”
On the men’s circuit, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic both advanced to the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships.
Federer rolled through Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4, while Djokovic had a slightly more difficult time with another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, winning 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
AP contributed to this report