Top seed Ana Ivanovic may be forced to withdraw from the Qatar Open after suffering an ankle injury on her way to the third round.

The Serbian, who reached last month's Australian Open final, was just two points from victory against Olga Govortsova of Belarus when she slipped on the baseline and collapsed in agony.

Ivanovic was able to continue after her left ankle was taped and, from 30-30, she held off a game point and won the last three points to claim a 6-3 6-1 second round victory.

But after the match she was clearly in pain, unable to walk properly and doubtful she would be able to play her next match against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.

"It definitely hurts a lot and I have difficulty stepping on it," Ivanovic said. "They think it might be a strain.

"I have to wait and see how it reacts overnight but honestly it's very questionable for tomorrow. I'll try to recover as best I can and see if I can go on court.

"I was a little bit scared and thought I couldn't finish the match. I just took my chances and don't know how I managed to finish. I knew I had to go for my shots because I couldn't run or go into deep rallies."

Strong winds meant that many players found it difficult to establish a rhythm or execute a game plan.

Second seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova struggled against Nathalie Dechy of France, edging the first set and having to twice recover from a break down in the second to win 7-5 7-5.

"It was very, very difficult," Kuznetsova said. "I have not played with wind like this for ages. It's crazy, because you cannot really control the ball, you cannot do tactics much.

"It's easy to get irritated and very hard to stay calm. There's an easy ball and I cannot make it, and you just have to calm down and stay focused and adjust and move your feet a lot.

"I'm happy to get through it because it was a tough match."

Maria Sharapova also struggled with the conditions, taking over two hours to beat fellow Russian Galina Voskoboeva 6-4 4-6 6-1, and Amelie Mauresmo's woes continued when she lost the last four games and the match 7-6 7-5 to Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia recovered from a break down in the third to beat Russia's Yaroslava Shvedova 6-1 3-6 6-3 while sixth-seeded Venus Williams won 6-2 6-3 versus Italy's Karin Knapp, who lost in Sunday's Antwerp Diamond Games final.

Russian number five seed Anna Chakvetadze lost 7-6 6-4 to Li Na of China after twice serving for the first set.

Reuters