Jabeur advances but Sherif out on mixed day for Arab players at Dubai Tennis Championships

There were mixed fortunes for Arab players on the second day of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships as Tunisia's Ons Jabeur battled into the second round, shortly after Egyptian Mayar Sherif was eliminated.

Jabeur, the world No 10, was forced to dig deep to get past Russian veteran Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in her first match since recovering from the back injury that forced her to miss the Australian Open.

“Very, very tough match,” Jabeur, 27, said. “It's great to be back. I feel like I haven't been playing so many matches lately. The most important thing was to be healthy and to be able to finish this match.”

That encounter on Centre Court immediately followed Sherif's Dubai debut, where the fast-rising Egyptian came up short against two-time champion Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-3.

“I was a little nervous,” Sherif said. “I haven't played many matches like this, but it was a good experience that I think will help my game in the future.”

Jabeur may be lacking in match practice, but she initially looked like she had never been away, racing into a one-set lead after winning four games in a row.

However, the Tunisian curiously lost all momentum at the start of the second set as errors flew off the racquet, allowing Zvonareva to move 4-0 ahead. Jabeur clawed one of the breaks back but was broken again while serving to stay in the set.

What followed was a tense and nervy decider, in which Jabeur took the early control with a break to lead 2-1. Zvonareva battled back to level at 3-3 only to hand the advantage back to the eighth seed at 6-5. Jabeur made hard work of serving out the match but after saving three break points, closed out the victory after two hours and six minutes.

“Today was up and down for sure,” said