Naomi Osaka’s hopes of clinching the Qatar Open ended on Thursday in a straight-sets quarter-final loss to fellow former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Osaka, who is rebuilding her career after maternity leave, went down 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5) after saving three match points.
It was the 26-year-old Japanese star’s second defeat to Pliskova this year after losing in three sets in her comeback tournament in Brisbane last month.
Photo: AP
Pliskova, ranked at 59, was to face world No. 1 Iga Swiatek for a place in today’s final.
The Czech’s win over Osaka, clinched in 1 hour, 43 minutes, was her ninth in the past 10 days, a run which included the Transylvania Open title on Sunday.
Defending champion Swiatek moved closer to a third successive Qatar title when she brushed aside Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 6-0 in 74 minutes in her quarter-final.
Polish 22-year-old Swiatek is 12-1 at the Gulf tournament, with her only defeat coming in the 2020 second round to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
“I felt like I started a little bit playing too aggressively maybe, but then I found my rhythm and the proper way to play,” Swiatek said. “I kept it till the end of the match. I’m happy that I could analyze during the match and then take a lesson from that.”
Former world No. 1 Azarenka, the 2012 and 2013 champion in Doha, double-faulted in the ninth game to hand Swiatek the first break.
The top seed served it out before racing through the second set without facing a break point.
Swiatek ended the encounter with 17 winners to just five from Azarenka.
Earlier, Elena Rybakina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova set up a semi-final clash.
Third seed and former Wimbledon champion Rybakina came from 4-2 down in the first set to defeat 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2.
Pavlyuchenkova secured her first WTA 1000-level hard-court semi-final in 14 years with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Danielle Collins of the US.
“I hope it will be a good match, we know each other well, both on and off the court,” said Rybakina, last weekend’s champion in Abu Dhabi, of her clash with Pavlyuchenkova.
Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 32 in the world, needed 1 hour, 34 minutes to see off Collins, a former world no. 7 who had to qualify.
The Russian’s only stutter came in the first set when she coughed up a 5-2 lead, but she regrouped to take it 7-5 and went on to claim victory with her first match point.
“I was injured for a long time, so I’m happy to be back and able to fight on all points, and victories give me confidence,” Pavlyuchenkova said in the post-match on-court interview.
“I’ve been working a lot on the mental aspect and I feel like it’s paying off,” added the 32-year-old, a finalist at the French Open in 2021.
In the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium, the top seeds, fell to a shock 6-1, 6-3 defeat to fifth seeds Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands and Luisa Stefani of Brazil.
ROTTERDAM OPEN
AFP, ROTTERDAM, Netherlands
Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner on Thursday overcame a stubborn fightback by veteran Frenchman Gael Monfils to battle into the Rotterdam Open quarter-finals with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win, as other top seeds crashed out on a day of upsets.
The 22-year-old Italian, unbeaten this year, showed the imperious form that took him to victory in Melbourne from the start, racing to a 3-0 first-set lead.
Wild-card Monfils, 37, entertained the crowd with some trademark retrieving and the occasional trick shot, but initially had no answer to Sinner’s consistency, losing the first set 6-3.
However, the Frenchman, now 70th in the world, rolled back the years in the second set, delighting the Rotterdam crowd that saw him win back-to-back titles in 2019 and 2020.
Cleverly mixing blistering forehands and well-judged drop shots, he disturbed Sinner’s rhythm and broke serve early in the second set, hanging on to close it out 6-3.
A poor Monfils first-service game in the deciding set, riddled with unforced errors and a double fault, handed the initiative back to the Italian, who again opened up a 3-0 advantage.
Sinner’s relentless pressure told and the world No. 4 eventually broke the French resistance, finishing off the third set 6-3.
“It’s always tough to play against him. He won two times here, so he knows how to play here,” Sinner said. “I’m very happy. I was struggling a bit, I didn’t have so much rhythm, but in these kind of matches you learn a lot. It gives me confidence for the next one,” against Canada’s Milos Raonic.
Earlier in the day, rising star Holger Rune suffered a shock defeat to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko and local hero Tallon Griekspoor beat fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz in a thriller with the help of raucous crowd support.
Both winners said the victories were their “biggest” or “best.”
Shevchenko, the 23-year-old world No. 57, won 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 for only his second career victory against a top-10 player to set up a quarter-final clash against Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
“It’s the biggest win of my career. I’m really proud of myself,” Shevchenko said.
Griekspoor, the world No. 29, showed his battling qualities, coming through 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/4).
“I’m unbelievably happy. It’s the best win of my life,” Griekspoor said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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