Iga Swiatek came from a set down to defeat Daria Kasatkina on Wednesday and keep her bid for a fourth Qatar Open title alive by reaching the quarterfinals, reports Sportstar.
The world number two recovered to beat Russian-born Australian Kasatkina 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 and set up a tie with Greece’s Maria Sakkari.
Swiatek, who won the WTA 1000 tournament in 2022, 2023 and 2024, had breezed through her last six meetings with Kasatkina without dropping a set but blew a 5-3 lead to lose the opener.
She quickly regrouped, though, racing through the next two sets with six breaks of serve.
Swiatek remains on course for a possible rematch with Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina in the final after the Kazakh’s win in their quarterfinal clash at Melbourne Park last month.
Rybakina takes on China’s Zheng Qinwen later on Thursday.
Canada’s Victoria Mboko won the battle of the teenagers by saving a match point to knock out fifth seed Mirra Andreeva in a deciding-set tie-break.
The 19-year-old Mboko saved the match point on the Andreeva serve late in the third set before sealing a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) success.
“I feel like I came out with some very clutch shots at the end,” said Mboko, who could face Rybakina next. “I think we both were pretty tired when it came to the tie-break. I think I felt like I was lucky enough to have some good shots in the great moments.”
Jelena Ostapenko, last year’s runner-up, saw off Colombian Camila Osorio 6-3, 6-1 to set up a last-eight tie with Elisabetta Cocciaretto. Italian lucky loser Cocciaretto backed up her second-round win over Coco Gauff by beating Ann Li 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-4.
Czech Karolina Muchova also reached the quarters when compatriot and former world number one Karolina Pliskova retired injured from their last-16 match when trailing 5-2 in the first set. Sakkari defeated France’s Varvara Gracheva 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 in the opening tie of the day.
Rybakina fights back to beat Zheng
Elena Rybakina battled back to beat China’s Zheng Qinwen 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.
Zheng, the 2024 Australian Open runner-up, was playing only her second event since elbow surgery last July and had impressed with three-set wins over Sofia Kenin and Alycia Parks. She took the first set with a single break, but Rybakina raised her level in the second, breaking twice to force a decider.
The world number three then surged to a 5-2 lead in the third, missed a match point, and was broken while serving for the match. Zheng threatened to take it to a tie-break after holding 40-0, but faltered, allowing Rybakina to close it out and set up a Thursday quarter-final against Canada’s Victoria Mboko.
“In the second I found a bit of my game and I stepped in,” said Rybakina. “In the third… one break and everything changed.
“But I’m happy that in the end it went my way.”