Both Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina dropped sets before rallying to win against Daria Kasatkina and Zheng Qinwen respectively, but Mirra Andreeva could not shake off Victoria Mboko and was eliminated in the matchbreaker at the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Wednesday.
I didn’t really have any specific tactics against her [Mirra Andreeva]. But I know she cuts very well and hits very low. I think she made me hit that one [slices and spins]. She covers the track really well, so I think for me it was just trying to find the little window to open up the track. Yeah, I found myself making shots like that because that’s the only thing I felt I could do. Victoria Mboko
Swiatek, the No. 1 seed, had to recover from a set down to beat Kasatkina 5-7 6-1 6-1 and keep her bid for a fourth title in Doha alive by reaching the quarter-finals and setting up a meeting with Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who was a 7-6(3) 6-0 winner over French qualifier Varvara Gracheva.
The 24-year-old Pole, who won the tournament here in 2022, 2023 and 2024, had come through well in her last six meetings with the Russian-born Australian, in which she had not lost more than three games in a set, but she squandered a 5-3 lead to lose the opener as Kasatkina, a former world number 8, rallied to win the next four games and take the set 7-5.
The Pole quickly regrouped, racing through the next 2 sets with 6 service breaks, losing only 2 games to complete the victory in 2 hours and 17 minutes, and improving her head-to-head against Kasatkina to 7-1.
Swiatek converted 8 of 18 break points, 44.4%, while the Australian converted 4 of 12, 33.3%, and also struggled with her second serve, winning only 24.1% of those points, 7 of 29.
“It was not an easy match,” the world number 2 later told the media. “Even in the second and third sets I had to do a lot to win rallies against Daria. I think I gave her more chances. She used the slower surface here and went for it more, compared to the previous matches.”
“I felt like I could do more at times in the first set. Yes, I couldn’t really adapt well to the colder conditions and the wind. It’s definitely a lesson for the coming days.”
© Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images
Swiatek has reached the quarter-finals for the fifth time in her career, and only Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska have reached the Last 8 in Doha more often, with six each.
Sakkari awaits Swiatek in the quarter-finals and remains on course for a possible rematch with Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina in the final, the Kazakh who defeated the Pole in their quarter-final at Melbourne Park last month.
However, Swiatek must first face former world number 3 Sakkari, who has now won three consecutive WTA main draw matches for the first time since reaching the Last 16 in Madrid last year, and for the first time on hard court since reaching the Indian Wells final two years ago.
The Greek won their first three meetings against Swiatek, all in straight sets in 2021, but the Pole has since won their next four meetings, also all in straight sets, including a 6-3 6-2 win in the second round here last year.
“Iga is very solid, but at the same time very aggressive,” said Sakkari after her victory over Gracheva. “She moves the ball very well. She moves very well on the field. She doesn’t give you many mistakes. So it will be a huge challenge for me. When we played here last year it was an easy score, but it was not an easy game, I must say.”
Swiatek is also prepared heading into the match against Sakkari.
“Overall I think my level improved in 2022 so I could do a little more, have more variety and push a little more,” Swiatek said. “But it’s always difficult against Maria. It’s always like every game matters, every point counts.”
World number 3 Elena Rybakina found her way past Zheng Qinwen in 3 tight sets on Wednesday to reach the Last 8 in Doha
© Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images
Next on court, Rybakina, the No. 2 seed, also dropped the opening set but got past China’s Zheng Qinwen, 4-6 6-2 7-5, after 2 hours and 27 minutes to make the Last 8 in Doha, and she has won 9 matches in a row, improving to 11-1 in 2026, while the Kazakh, dating back to last year’s WTA Finals, won 16 of her has won the last 17. competitions.
After losing the first set, Rybakina responded by breaking twice in the second to level the match, and finally, in the third, made the decisive break at 5–5 before serving it out to seal the come-back victory.
Wednesday night’s victory saw the world number 3 improve to 3-1 against Zheng in four tour-level encounters, and much of the time the Chinese opened her chances to win, before becoming just the third player to win a set over Rybakina this year, joining Karolina Muchova and Aryna Sabalenka.
“Qinwen started better than me, and I started a little slower and maybe played passively within a few moments,” Rybakina said in her post-match press conference. “But again, she started really well, and then, in the second, I found a bit of my game and intervened. In the third… one break and everything changed, but I’m glad it went my way in the end.”
Rybakina continues with 19-year-old Victoria Mboko, the 10th seed, who upset 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, the 5th seed, 6-3 3-6 7-6(5), after a thrilling 2 hour and 10 minute battle between two talented teenagers in the first match of Day 4.
The result was the third Canadian Top 10 win of her career, and she advances to her second career WTA 1000 quarterfinal following her surprise run to last year’s Montreal title, while also becoming the second player to win twice from match point this year, joining Poland’s Magdalena Frech.
Mboko saved a match point on Andreeva’s serve late in the deciding set before sealing the victory, leaving the Russian in tears of disappointment.
“I feel like I came out with some very impressive shots at the end,” Mboko said afterwards. “I think we were both quite tired when it came to the tiebreak. I think I was lucky to have some good shots in the big moments.”
10th seed Victoria Mboko defeated 5th seed Mirra Andreeva in the matchbreaker to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Elena Rybakina at the Qatar Open
© Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images
The first set witnessed Mboko’s superior aggression as she tallied 15 winners, including 5 aces, to Andreeva’s 5, but in the second set the Russian started throwing the kitchen sink at the Canadian – drop shots, passing shots, moon-balls and lobs – as she slowed the pace of the rallies, all aimed at breaking Mboko’s rhythm.
Mboko’s ability to find openings, hemmed in by Andreeva’s versatility, was limited, and although she made only eleven unforced errors in the second set, her tally of winners was reduced to eight.
There was still heavy fighting until the end, with Mboko leveling at 3-3 before Andreeva pulled away at the end of the set to drag the match back on level terms.
The third saw the highest level of tennis from both teenagers at the same time, and the early stages produced a series of beautiful exchanges as they tried to outwit each other, with Andreeva capturing the first break for 2-1 but being immediately pinned back.
Mboko rose to the challenge of Andreeva’s style, returned it with some creativity of her own and patiently went toe-to-toe in the extended rallies.
“I didn’t really have any specific tactics against her,” Mboko explained afterwards. “But I know she cuts really well, and she hits really low. I think she forced me to hit that one [slices and spins]. She covers the track really well, so I think for me it was just trying to find the little window to open up the track. Yeah, I found myself making shots like that because that’s all I felt I could do.
At 4-4, Mboko coughed up a pair of double faults to concede her serve, then Andreeva repaid the favor in the next game, missing a match point with a double of her own, but quality returned in the matchbreaker, where 5 points were decided by clean winners.
The best of these proved decisive, with an angled backhand pass during the run giving Mboko a 5/3 lead, the first time in the tiebreak that one player had a 2-point lead over the other.
While Mboko’s backhand let her down on her first two match points, she continued to rely on that shot and closed her third with an inside-out winner from that wing, her 38th of the day.
Mboko and Rybakina met three times last season, with the Kazakh holding a 2-1 lead to win the most recent meeting in Tokyo, but the 19-year-old was victorious the last time they faced each other at a WTA 1000 event, when she came from behind to beat Rybakina in 3 sets in the semi-finals of the Canadian Open on her way to the title.
Anna Kalinskaya upset seventh-seeded Elina Svitolina in straight sets in a match that ended well after midnight on Wednesday evening in Doha
© Quinn Rooney/Getty Images
In the late match on the same court, Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya upset Elina Svitolina, the seventh seed from Ukraine, 6-4 6-3, in 78 minutes to reach her first quarter-final in Doha, where she will meet Muchova, who should be well rested after Karolina Pliskova retired with a knee injury following their third-round meeting with the Czech Republic, trailing 5-2 in the first set.
Muchova has a 3-0 lead in the head-to-head clash with Kalinskaya, although two of those encounters went to three sets and their last meeting took place in 2024.
Kalinskaya’s match against Svitolina didn’t start until shortly after 11pm local time, after the three long straight 3-setters on Center Court, and she seemed determined to make quick work of the encounter, wrapping it up at 12:19pm and sealing the upset, her 14th career Top 10 win, in style by ripping a forehand winner reminiscent of the one she hit to take the opening set tackle, in a final flourish for the fans who stayed deep into the match. the night.
“Thank you,” Kalinskaya said in her on-court interview. “I was afraid there wouldn’t be many people there, and I’m surprised. Thank you guys for coming and staying, especially the children there. I appreciate it.”
The 27-year-old finished with impeccable numbers, landing 70% of her first serves and winning 68% of the points behind them, while also winning 56% on her second serve and breaking Svitolina four times in 10 games, converting four of her five break points.
A win against Muchova would send Kalinskaya to her second WTA 1000 semi-final and keep her hopes of a return to the Top 20 alive.
Earlier in the day, Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, last year’s runner-up in Doha, defeated Colombia’s Camila Osorio 6-3 6-1 in 68 minutes to set up a Last 8 match with Elisabetta Cocciaretto, after the Italian lucky loser backed up her second round victory over third seed Coco Gauff by beating Ann Li, also American, 7-6 (5). 5-7 6-4, after a battle of 2 hours and 55 minutes in stands 2.
#Doha #Swiatek #Rybakina #challenged #Mboko #takes #Andreeva