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After breaking Elina Svitolina in the first game of the match, Victoria Azarenka took a medical time-out for apparent lower back pain. The Belarusian quickly regrouped in the high-profile Qatar Total Open quarter-final after getting treatment and returned with an emphatic performance to oust the top seed. Following her resounding 6-2, 6-4 victory yesterday, Azarenka - the 2012 and 2013 champion – remained on course of becoming the most successful WTA player at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex as no player has ever won the prestigious tournament three times. Although Azarenka had never lost to Svitolina in their previous three matches, the World No.5 Ukrainian entered the centre court as favourite to go through the last-8 clash. But, the two-time Australian champion Azarenka, facing a Top 20 opponent for the first time this season, maintained her unbeaten record against her doubles partner, striking 25 winners in her 85-minute win.After taking 4-1 lead in the first set, the Belarusian received additional treatment, but she still managed to win the first set. The former World No.1 took 5-2 lead in the second set breaking Svitolina thrice, she then failed to convert two match points at 5-3 finally doing it while serving for the match second time at 5-4. A winner with a backhand down the line gave Azarenka her 60th career WTA semi-final appearance.
“There was a pain this morning but I thought it got better, then in the warm-up, I felt the pain again. I really just tried to focus on what I could do, and not think about anything else, and try to find solutions and use every opportunity I had to play,” eighth-seeded Azarenka said in a post-match interview yesterday. “I just tried to play point by point and not think about the score, how long it’s going to take to play if it’s going to be two sets or three sets. I’m really proud of the way I handled it mentally and how I approached this match,” she added. Azarenka will meet Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza – the 2018 finalist in Doha – who outclassed Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and six minutes in yesterday’s last quarter-final.Muguruza, coming into the match after knocking out defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in a three-set thriller, maintained her form to avenge her Abu Dhabi loss in the pair’s previous meeting. Such was Spaniard’s form last night that hit 14 winners as compared to her seven unforced errors, dominating World No.25 Sakkari. “Happy that today I was a little bit more efficient in the important moments. Yeah, I could close the match in two sets,” Muguruza told reporters. “Sometimes you try your best and it doesn’t go your way. But today I felt like everything was going well.”
Pegula sets up Kvitova semi-final clash
Yesterday, it was the sixth match in as many days in Doha for qualifier Jessica Pegula but the American remained high in energy against second seed Karolina Pliskova, recording a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Pliskova, returning to the centre court just hours after her thrilling three-set win over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, looked off color as intensity was missing in her performance. She looked no match for the 27-year-old, who played the Australian Open quarter-final last month. World No.44 Pegula showed good command all over the court, firing 20 winners to just seven unforced errors as she ousted the 2017 Doha champion in one hour. The American took the first set easily and saved the only break point she faced before powering past World No. 6, defying her brief fightback in the second set. It was American’s second top-10 win of the season after she shocked World No.5 Svitolina at the Australian Open. “(The win was) definitely a confidence builder,” a delighted Pegula said after her win.
“I would definitely say my fitness, staying healthy, and then mentally, I think staying healthy has really helped me mentally knowing that I feel good pretty much every match, knowing that I don’t have to be too concerned about injuries or anything like that,” she added. Pegula, who has dropped just one set in the tournament so far against Anastasia Potapova in the qualifying stage, now faces fourth-seeded Petra Kvitova in the semi-final. World No.10 Kvitova defeated Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 after an intriguing first quarter-final that lasted for one hour and 46 minutes. Both the players, enjoying a purple patch of form, displayed powerful shot-making but it was the 2018 champion and last year’s runner-up to Sabalenka, Kvitova, who struck the most winners tallying 31 winners to 24 unforced errors to win the match. Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova started the match strongly grabbing the first set in only 29 minutes before Kontaveit, who also didn’t drop more than five games like her opponent before the match, struck back by winning the second set. The former World No.2 clinched the decisive set after a solid performance. “I’m really glad that after losing the second set, which I didn’t play the best probably, I started very well in the third and, you know, was important, the first break in the first game of the third set,” Pliskova told reporters yesterday after reaching another semi-final in Doha.
