No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland is two wins away from her fourth straight Qatar TotalEnergies Open championship.
Swiatek extended her winning streak in Doha to 15 matches with a 6-2, 7-5 win over fifth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
In a rematch of last year’s final of the WTA 1000 tournament, Swiatek overcame a 3-1 deficit in the second set and improved to 4-4 in her head-to-head series with Rybakina.
“I’m super happy, super proud of myself. Playing against Elena is never easy,” Swiatek said. “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 claimed her 100th WTA 1000 win in her 121st match at the level, the second-fastest to the milestone after Serena Williams (115 matches).
Swiatek is trying to become just the second WTA player since 2000 to win a tournament four straight times, joining Caroline Wozniacki at New Haven from 2008-11.
To do so, Swiatek will need to get past Jelena Ostapenko, the Latvian with a 4-0 record in their head-to-head series. Ostapenko reached the semifinal with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in 71 minutes.
Ostapenko has not dropped a set this week. She lost her serve only once and converted five of 11 break chances against Jabeur.
The other semifinal will pit Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova against Amanda Anisimova. Alexandrova rallied to defeat No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, and Anisimova outlasted Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
“I’m happy with the results, the way I play. I feel pretty good on the court. I know what I need to do and what things to focus on,” Alexandrova said.
“The opponent was very difficult for me, it seemed like she was everywhere on the court. I had to be ready to run, serve well, and at the same time I knew that I would have chances. I should have waited for them and used them,” she added.
Anisimova needed 2 hours and 29 minutes to make it past Kostyuk, who offset her six aces with eight double faults. Kostyuk saved 12 of 19 break points, but Anisimova saved 13 of 19.
–Field Level Media
