Iga advances to semis with 15th straight Doha win
WORLD number two Iga Swiatek is just two wins away from a fourth consecutive Qatar Open title after dismissing fellow Grand Slam winner and Top 5 player Elena Rybakina 6-2 7-5 in the quarter finals of the WTA1000 event overnight.
The second seed looked to be doing it easy in the first set, but found herself up against it in the second, needing to fight back from 2-4 down to win five of the last six games and avoid a third set in 96 minutes on court. The pair faced off at last month’s United Cup which Swiatek survived, and after the Doha victory, levelled their head-to-head from eight contests.
“I’m super happy, super proud of myself. Playing against Elena is never easy,” Swiatek said post-match. “At the beginning of the second set, she increased her level, so I needed to do that too to come back. I’m really happy, especially in the last game, to break Elena, because with her serve, it’s tough.”
Swiatek hit two more winners (24-22) compared to 10 less unforced errors (30-40) and managed to outhit the powerful Kazakh, saving all bar one break point from Rybakina’s four opportunities, while converting four of nine herself during the match.
The result marked the Pole’s 100th win at WTA1000 level from just 121 matches, second only to Serena Williams (115) in terms of least matches taken to achieve the feat. Now Swiatek has to face a red-hot Jelena Ostapenko who has found her groove in Doha, and the Pole is yet to beat the Latvian Grand Slam winner.
Ostapenko leads the head-to-head 4-0, though the last two matches – in 2022 and 2023 – were both three-setters and the players have not faced off since the 2023 US Open. The former Top 5 player got there thanks to a dominant 6-2 6-2 victory over Ons Jabeur, brushing off the talented Tunisian and fellow former Top 5 player in 71 minutes with 28 winners.
In the other results, Russian Linz champion Ekaterina Alexandrova continued her remarkable last few weeks with a come-from-behind win over sixth seeded American Jessica Pegula. The unseeded Alexandrova won 4-6 6-1 6-1 and now takes on another American in Amanda Anisimova for a spot in the final. Anisimova beat fellow power player, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, 4-6 7-5 6-4.
2025 QATAR OPEN WTA1000 – QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:
[2] Iga Swiatek (POL) defated [5] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 6-2 7-5
Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) defeated [6] Jessica Pegula (USA) 4-6 6-1 6-1
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) defeated Ons Jabeur (TUN) 6-2 6-2
Amanda Anisimova (USA) defeated Marta Kostyuk (UKR) 4-6 7-5 6-4
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