Poland's Iga Swiatek hits a return to Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina during their quarter-final yesterday.
Doha: Iga Swiatek yesterday extended her winning run to 15 matches in Doha as she kept her bid for a fourth title in a row alive with a hard-fought 6-2, 7-5 victory over Elena Rybakina to reach the Qatar TotalEnergies Open semi-finals.
The Polish World No. 2 rallied from 2-4 in the second set and saved two break points at 4-4 to overcome the Kazakh seventh seed in a rematch of last year’s final, wrapping up the win in one hour and 36 minutes.
Swiatek’s win also extended head-to-head record with the Rybakina to 4-4.
“I’m super happy, super proud of myself,” Swiatek said after her win which also marked her 100th win at WTA 1000 level.
“Playing against Elena is never easy. At the beginning of the second set, she increased her level, so I needed to do that too. I’m really happy, especially in the last game, to break her because with her serve, it’s tough,” Swiatek said.
Swiatek is aiming to become only the second WTA player since 2000 to clinch four consecutive titles at a single event.
Next up, Swiatek faces a dangerous opponent in Jelena Ostapenko who had earlier overcame crowd favourite Ons Jabeur of Tunisia with a 6-2, 6-2 win in just 71 minutes.
“My next opponent has a very different style: unpredictable shots and great touch. She’s a complete player, which makes her tricky to face. Of course, she’ll have huge motivation playing in front of her home crowd, but I’m motivated too. We’ll see how it goes,” Swiatek, who is bidding for a 23rd WTA title, said.
Meanwhile, Ostapenko was overjoyed after defeating Jabeur, despite having little crowd support.
“Thank you guys for not cheering for me because it made me even more motivated,” Ostapenko said. “Thank you to those who supported me, and thanks to everyone else for motivating me even more! I understand everyone was cheering for my opponent, especially since she’s from the Middle East and has done amazing things for tennis here. But the crowd’s energy fired me up -I got a bit angry, which actually helped me play better. I’m really happy to be through, and I hope you all enjoyed the match,” the Latvian, seeded fifth, said.
Ostapenko lost to Jabeur last week at the Abu Dhabi Open, 7-6(4), 7-5, which put her season’s singles record at 1-4. But with four straight-set victories this week, including upsets of No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini and No. 16 seed Liudmila Samsonova, the 2017 Roland Garros champion has found her form.
Earlier, Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova beat USA’s No.6 seed Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals.
“I’m really happy with my results right now. I feel good on court, and I know exactly what I need to work on. I’m enjoying myself out there, and it feels great,” said Alexandrova.
“I’m aware that Jessica has won 13 of her 15 quarterfinals at the WTA 1000 level. It’s always tough playing against her because she’s everywhere on the court—no matter where you hit, she’s there, often returning the ball even harder. She’s very consistent, so I have to be prepared to do a lot of running and deal with her flat, low shots."
Alexandrova will take on American Amanda Anisimova, for a place in the final. Anisimova defeated Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
