Dubai, Feb 18 (IANS): Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic won a second round match of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships against 2015 winner Simona Halep from Romania 7-6, 6-2.

The highly motivated Ivanovic expressed her keenness on winning against the 24-year-old Halep after her first round victory and made few mistakes in the match here on Wednsday, reports Xinhua.

Ivanovic, ranked 20th in the world, used her height superiority to the fullest against the smaller Halep and left the center court victorious after one hour and 52 minutes.

The match started late at night due to a thunderstorm that hit Dubai in the afternoon on Wednesday.

In another second round match on Wednesday, Germany's Andrea Petkovic, ranked 101st, upset World No.19 Jelena Jankovic from Serbia in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 after one hour and 18 minutes.

Italy's Sara Errani, ranked 22nd, gave no chance for Yaroslava Shvedova, beating the Russian who plays for Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-0.

France's Caroline Garcia won 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Spain's Carla Navarro. Their match was interrupted by rain for hours in the late third set.

Czech Barbora Strycova defeated German Julia Goerges 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.