DUBAI (AFP) - 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 opening round of the WTA event in Dubai on Monday (Feb 17).

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.

Ninth seed Muguruza, 10 years Clijsters' junior, dominated early on as the veteran Belgian played her first official match since the 2012 US Open.

Mother of three Clijsters, who was playing in Dubai for the first time in her career, was on the back foot from the start, losing serve in the first game of both sets.

She found herself a two breaks down early in the second set after being swept aside in the first but fought back gamely to lead 5-4 after nine games.

However Muguruza took the set to a tie-break and took victory on her second match point.