JENNIFER Brady‘s giant-killing streak in 2020 continued in the Qatar Open with a three-set win over an Australian Open semi-finalist.

Brady defeated her American counterpart Alison Riske, downing the 13th seed 7-6 1-6 7-6 in a match that could have easily have gone the other way. The underdog only just won the first set tiebreaker 12-10 before being blown away in the second set. Brady bounced back to take the match to a third set tiebreaker and again stood tall, this time a little more comfortably 7-3 in a total match time of two hours and 47 minutes.

Another big upset on the day was Amanda Anisimova booking a spot in the Round of 16, backing up her first round win yesterday with a huge upset of fifth seed Ukranian, Elina Svitolina. The 18-year-old world number 29 took out the top 10 talent with a 6-3 6-3 win in just 64 minutes. Joining her in the Round of 16 was seventh seed Dutchwoman, Kiki Bertens who defeated Czech, Karolina Muchova 6-2 6-4 in an hour and 23 minutes.

Across the other Round of 64 matches, fourteenth seed Elena Rybakina escaped after going a set down against Romanian, Sonia Cirstea 3-6 6-3 6-1, battling for an hour and 41 minutes before making it through to the Round of 32. Fifteenth seed Maria Sakkari had an easier time of it with a victory over German, Julia Goerges 6-4 6-3, while it was not as positive for tenth seed Petra Martic, who suffered a loss at the hands of Barbora Strycova 4-6 6-1 6-2. Poland’s Iga Swiatek defeated Dona Vekic and Zheng Saisai downed Marketa Vondrousova in the other two seeded matches on the day.

Other unseeded winners were Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, Czech Republic’s Tereza Martincova and Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.

ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:

A. Anisimova (USA) defeated [5] E. Svitolina (UKR) 6-3 6-3
[7] K. Bertens (NED) defeated K. Muchova (CZE) 6-2 6-4

ROUND OF 64 RESULTS:

B. Strycova (CZE) defeated [10] P. Martic (CRO) 4-6 6-1 6-2
S. Zheng (CHN) defeated M. Vondrousova (CZE) 1-6 6-3 6-2
J. Brady (USA) defeated [13] A. Riske (USA) 7-6 1-6 7-6
[14] E. Rybakina (KAZ) defeated S. Cirstea (ROU) 3-6 6-3 6-1
[15] M. Sakkari (GRE) defeated J. Goerges (GER) 6-4 6-3
I. Swiatek (POL) defeated [17] D. Vekic (CRO) 6-4 7-5
Y. Putintseva (KAZ) defeated T. Babos (HUN) 6-3 6-4
A. Kontaveit (EST) defeated A. Sevastova (LAT) 6-4 7-6
V. Zvonareva (RUS) defeated S. Hsieh (TAI) 6-4 6-4
T. Martincova (CZE) defeated M. Doi (JPN) 6-2 0-6 6-2
C. Suarez Navarro (ESP) defeated S. Zhang (CHN) 7-5 6-0
D. Yastremska (UKR) defeated K. Flipkens (BEL) 6-2 6-4