Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

Qatar Open: Sabalenka sets up Swiatek clash

In the quarterfinals, Sabalenka will meet No.7 seed Iga Swiatek, who defeated Daria Kasatkina in straight sets. Sabalenka won her only prior meeting with Swiatek, in the round-robin portion of last year's Akron WTA Final

Aryna Sabalenka

Bengaluru/Doha, February 24: Top seed Aryna Sabalenka breezed into the Qatar TotalEnergies open quarterfinal with a facile 6-2, 6- win over Switzerland's Jil Teichmann at the hard-courts of Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex on Wednesday (February 23) night.

Coming into the match, Sabalenka had lost three of her four matches to players outside the top-40 this season, but she brought her most overpowering play against 41st-ranked Teichmann in their first meeting.

In the quarterfinals to be held on Thursday (February 24), Sabalenka will take on No.7 seed Iga Swiatek, who defeated Daria Kasatkina in straight sets. Sabalenka won her only prior meeting with Swiatek, in the round-robin portion of last year's Akron WTA Finals.

Muguruza on song

Meanwhile, two-time Doha finalist Garbine Muguruza also had a quick tilt on Wednesday. The fifth-seeded Spaniard dispatched Madison Brengle of the US 6-0, 6-2 in just 63 minutes to reach the Doha quarterfinals for the fifth time in her career.

Muguruza is seeking her first Doha title this week after falling in the final in 2018 and last year. Both times, she lost in the championship match to Petra Kvitova, who had pulled midway through the tournament this time with an injury.

Qatar Open: Kvitova, Azarenka pull out, Seeds have it easyQatar Open: Kvitova, Azarenka pull out, Seeds have it easy

Next up for Muguruza will be a quarterfinal clash with No.15 seed Jelena Ostapenko, who is on an eight-match winning streak. Muguruza is 3-1 against last week's Dubai Duty Free Championship winner Ostapenko, although this will be their first meeting since 2017.

Ostapenko may be the lowest seed remaining among the quarterfinalists, but she is also the one who looks unbeatable. The Latvian is on a career-best eight-match winning streak after her title run in Dubai last week. With her straight-set win over Barbora Krejcikova in the round-of-16, Ostapenko has now won her last five matches against Grand Slam champions.

Jabeur through

Earlier, eighth seed Ons Jabeur fought back from a break down in the third set before overcoming Tereza Martincova 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the third round. The 96-minute victory put the Tunisian into the Doha quarterfinals for a second time.

The 27-year-old will next take on good friend and No.4 seed Anett Kontaveit's seven-match winning streak as she bids for her first Doha semifinal.

The friendly rivalry defined the final weeks of the 2021 season, which saw Jabeur beat Kontaveit at Indian Wells to secure her historic top-10 debut, only to see the Estonian leapfrog her to secure the final spot at the WTA Finals. Kontaveit is looking to make her first WTA 1000 semifinal since 2019 Miami.

WTA 1000 event

The Qatar TotalEnergies Open and Dubai Duty Free Championships alternate between WTA 1000 and WTA 500 levels each year. With Doha holding the WTA 500 designation last season, this year it is a WTA 1000.

The first WTA 1000 event of the year which features a 56-player singles draw and 28-team doubles draw has brought the creme de la creme of WTA Tour to the Qatari capital.

The main top 10 players missing from the Doha field are world No.1 Ashleigh Barty, who opted to skip the Middle East swing, and No.4 Karolina Pliskova, who is still recovering from an ongoing hand injury that has delayed her start to the season.

DOHA QUARTERFINAL LINE-UP

(Prefix denotes seed)

1. Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) vs 7. Iga Swiatek (POL)

14. Coco Gauff (USA) vs 6. Maria Sakkari (GRE)

8. Ons Jabeur (TUN) vs 4. Anett Kontaveit (EST)

5. Garbine Muguruza (ESP) vs 15. Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)

(With WTA inputs)

Story first published: Thursday, February 24, 2022, 10:45 [IST]
Other articles published on Feb 24, 2022