Kim Clijsters has lost her first match in her second tennis comeback following a 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) defeat to Garbine Muguruza in the first round of the WTA event in Dubai on Monday.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Clijsters, 36, had been out for seven years before the clash with world number 16 Muguruza, who reached the final of the Australian Open last month.

Spain's Muguruza, herself a two-time Grand Slam winner, will play one of Veronika Kudermetova and Dayana Yastremska in the next round.