Samantha Stosur has made a winning start at the Qatar Open, beating Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 7-5 6-4.
World No.21 Stosur, who elected to skip the Fed Cup for Australia, took an early break and raced to a 4-1 lead in the opening set in Doha.
The 32-year-old Australian gave it back just as quickly though.
Her forehand, which helped her achieve the break, went awry as she made a string of errors to allow world No.35 Sevastova to break back and level at 4-4.
Stosur was forced to rely on her serve to get her out of trouble before Sevastova gave up the first set with a double fault.
The pair held serve in the second set, with Stosur doing well to stave off three break points in the fifth game before taking a 3-2 lead.
Rain halted play for two hours with the Australian leading 4-3 before Stosur closed out the match, needing 11 minutes after the delay.
