IT was a huge day in Doha, with plenty of big names making their way through to the Qatar Total Open quarter finals, whilst in Lyon, the French were up and about, making up half of the final eight combatants.

Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza has managed to quell third seed and power player, Aryna Sabalenka in the second round of the Qatar Total Open to move through to the quarter finals. She had to fight hard against the much-improved Belarusian, but held firm to claim victory in the standout match of the day, 6-2 6-7 6-3 in two hours and 26 minutes.

Despite having two less aces (4-6), Muguruza dominated on serve with a 74 per cent efficiency and higher first (64.9 to 59.4 per cent) and second (48.1 to 43.5 per cent) serve point conversions. She also broke seven times from 17 chances, whilst only being broken four times herself. It was a fascinating contest from the get-go, but the consistent Spaniard proved too strong.

It was much easier work for top seed Elina Svitolina who cruised into the quarter finals with a dominating 6-1 6-2 smashing of Japanese lucky loser Misaki Doi. She joined fourth seed Petra Kvitova and eighth seed Victoria Azarenka in the final eight after they also claimed straight sets wins. Kvitova did well to knock off Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-3, while Azarenka accounted for German qualifier Laura Siegemund, 6-4 6-2.

The run of American qualifier Jessica Pegula continued, with the Australian Open quarter finalist making another final eight appearance at a big tournament, taking care of Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, 6-2 7-5. Meanwhile Greek Maria Sakkari knocked off Madison Keys easily, 6-2 6-2, while Estonian Anett Kontaveit won against German Angelique Kerber, 6-1 6-4. In the late game that just wrapped up, second seed Karolina Pliskova defeated Tunisian Ons Jabeur 6-4 4-6 7-5.

QATAR TOTAL OPEN ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[1] Elina Svitolina (UKR) defeated [LL] Misaki Doi (JPN) 6-1 6-2
[2] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) defeated Ons Jabeur (TUN) 6-4 4-6 7-5
Garbine Muguruza (ESP) defeated [3] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 6-2 6-7 6-3
[4] Petra Kvitova (CZE) defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 6-1 6-3
[8] Victoria Azarenka (BLR) defeated [Q] Laura Siegemund (GER) 6-4 6-2
Maria Sakkari (GER) defeated Madison Keys (USA) 6-2 6-2
Anett Kontaveit (EST) defeated Angelique Kerber (GER) 6-1 6-4
[Q] Jessica Pegula (USA) defeated Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 6-2 7-5

Three of the four French seeds made it through to the final eight, with fifth seed Alize Cornet being the first one to fall in the 2021 Lyon Open. Cornet went down in three sets to compatriot and wildcard, Clara Burel in the second round of the tournament, losing 6-1 1-6 6-3 in two hours and six minutes. It was better news for second seed Fiona Ferro, who booked her place in the quarter finals with a win over Czech qualifier Tereza Martincova.

Martincova retired when Ferro was up 6-2 4-1, and the Frenchwoman second seed joined fellow seeds, Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia in the quarter finals making it four French through to the last eight. The only other straight sets result yesterday was Danish teenager Clara Tauson who continued her run after defeating top seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, knocking off Hungary’s Timea Babos, 6-2 6-3 in 71 minutes.

Meanwhile elsewhere, Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic accounted for Belarusian Vera Lapko in a come-from-behind win 5-7 6-4 6-3, while Italian Camila Giorgi also came from a set down to defeat Serbian Nina Stojanovic, 2-6 6-1 7-6.

LYON OPEN ROUND OF 16 RESULTS:

[2] Fiona Ferro (FRA) defeated [Q] Tereza Martincova (CZE) 6-2 4-1 RET
[WC] Clara Burel (FRA) defeated [5] Alize Cornet (FRA) 6-1 1-6 6-3
Viktorija Golubic (SUI) defeated Vera Lapko (BLR) 5-7 6-4 6-3
[Q] Clara Tauson (DEN) defeated Timea Babos (HUN) 6-2 6-3
Camila Giorgi (ITA) defeated Nina Stojanovic (SRB) 2-6 6-1 7-6

Picture credit: Getty Images