Israel's Shahar Peer came from a set down to defeat 13th-seed Yanina Wickmayer on her debut at the Dubai Tennis Championship.
Peer was unable to compete 12 months ago after controversially being denied a visa for entry into the United Arab Emirates, with tournament organisers citing security concerns.
And after dropping the first set to her Belgian opponent it looked as though Peer's stay this time around would be brief.
However, she fought back bravely and turned the match around before earning a 3-6 6-2 7-5 success.
She will next face Virginie Razzano of France after she eased past Selima Sfar of Tunisia 6-2 6-2.
Ninth seed Samantha Stosur also made an early exit, losing her first-round match to Tathiana Garbin of Italy in three sets.
It was a close match, with the Australian taking the first set and her opponent battling back in the second.
The third went to a tie-break, which the unseeded player took to claim a 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7/4) win.
Nadia Petrova was another high-profile name to fall, the 15th-seeded Russian losing two tie-breaks against Stefanie Voegele.
Twelfth seed Vera Zvonareva narrowly avoided the fate of her compatriot, edging through a tense third set to beat another Russian, Elena Vesnina, 6-4 4-6 7-5, while Flavia Pennetta beat Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-4 6-4.
In the day's only second-round game, Agnieszka Radwanska - the Polish seventh seed - beat Anastasija Sevastova 6-3 6-3.
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