By Nick Georgandis
© Mark Peterson/Corleve

(February 23, 2011) For Na Li and Francesca Schiavone, two of the tour’s favorites coming out of the Australian Open, the honeymoon appears to be over in 2011.Both players tumbled in singles play Wednesday in Doha, each upset in straight sets, Li in embarrassing fashion.

Klara Zakopalova dismissed Li in 60 minutes, 6-1, 6-2, defeating a Top 10 player for just the fifth time in her career.

"I knew I had to play a good match because she's a really tough player. I saw her matches at the Australian Open and admire her game a lot," Zakopalova said. "I tried to play my best and fight for every point. I feel good here."

Since starting the season 11-1 with a title at Sydney and a final appearance at the Australian Open, Li has lost consecutive matches.

Ironically, Zakopalova only made the field when Maria Kirilenko withdrew with a left hip injury.

Ranked 33rd in the world and now 8-4 on the year, Zakopalova advances to face fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the next round.

Third-seeded Schiavone fell to China’s Shuai Peng, 7-5, 6-3. It looked like the 38th-ranked Peng might blow an early 4-1 lead when Schiavone rallied to tie the first set at 5-5, but her opponent rallied to win the next four games to go up 7-5, 2-0, beating a Top 5 opponent for the first time in six years.

"I was playing well and it was already my fourth match here," the diplomatic Peng said. "For Francesca it was her first match of the week. Maybe I was used to the court more."

Since falling to Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the 2010 French Open champion has gone just 2-3, losing to 31st-ranked Jarmila Groth in Fed Cup play, to 23rd-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round at Dubai and now to Peng.