Maria Sakkari top seed outplayed Iga Swaatek over the second and third sets to secure a 2-6 6-4 7-5 win and advance to the Qatar TotalEnergies Open semifinals for the third time in her career and the first time in three years.
Former world number 3 Sakkari dropped serve twice in the first set, with Swiatek winning five games in a row to close out the set in 33 minutes.
From the start of the second set, the momentum changed. Sakkari quickly took the lead and won the first three games, creating a 3-0 lead. Swiatek later recovered the break to draw level at 4–4, but Sakkari responded by claiming the next two games to win the set 6–4 and extend the match.
The deciding set followed a similar pattern. Sakkari made the first break, but Swiatek responded to level the score. That sequence repeated itself, with Swiatek twice coming back from a break to reach 5-5. At that point, Sakkari held serve at love and then broke Swiatek again in the final game. She converted her second match point in a 2-6 6-4 7-5 victory in about two and a half hours.
The win advances Sakkari to the Doha semi-finals for the third time in her career and her first appearance at that stage of the tournament in three years. It also marks her first victory over Swiatek in five years, ending a four-match losing streak between the two on the WTA Tour. The result now puts their head-to-head record at 4-4.
In the other quarter-finals, Jelena Ostapenko advanced with a 7-5 6-4 win over lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto to reach her fourth semi-final in Doha. She will next face Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko, who came from 4-2 down in the third set to beat No. 2 and reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, breaking the Kazakhstani’s nine-match winning streak and reaching her second WTA 1000 semi-final.
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