Toronto’s Victoria Mboko and American partner Coco Gauff lost their first-round doubles match at the Qatar Open on Monday.
Mboko and Gauff lost to seventh-seeded Cristina Busa of Spain and American Nicole Melichar-Martinez 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 in a marathon match.
Mboko and Gauff won just 42 percent of their second serves, while Busa and Melichar Martinez won 64 percent of their second serves, despite both teams breaking serve four times throughout the match.
It was a better result for Canada’s Leila Fernandez and France’s Kristina Mladenovic, who defeated China’s Wang Xinyu and Zeng Saisai 7-5, 7-6(2).
Fernandez and Mladenovic won despite having fewer serves (0-4) and more double faults (5-2) than their opponents.
Fernandez and Mladenovic will face a tough test on Tuesday when they take on fourth-seeded Serbian Alexandra Krunic and Russian-born Kazakh Anna Danilinu in the round of 16.
