Cirstea is 1-4 against the Czech, and currently ranked 72 spots behind her, but is a much better player than her ranking indicates.

But two seeded players fell on Day 2: No. 10 Daria Kasatkina lost to Sorana Cirstea and No. 13 Beatriz Haddad Maia was eliminated by Anastasia Potapova.

Sabalenka faces a possible opening-round rematch with Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated the world No. 1 last week in Doha.