Kontaveit to face Ostapenko in the last-four
Doha: Anett Kontaveit of Estonia booked a semi-final clash with the 2016 finalist Jelena Ostapenko after demolishing Arab No.1 player Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-1 in 1 hour and 11 minutes on Thursday.
Latvia's Ostapenko, on the other hand, secured a convincing 66-minutes 6-2, 6-2 victory over Spain's Garbiñe Muguruza, the last year's finalist, in a one-sided match on the centre court of the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha.
The Estonian entered the matchup in better form against her Tunisian opponent as Jabeur was making her way back from an injury. The first set was rather competitive despite Kontaveit proving herself better initially.
Jabeur was able to stay in the match as Kontaveit failed to convert some of her early breakpoints. She eventually did convert them later in the set, after which she finished off the set with 6-4.
The second set was a proper demolition as Kontaveit was simply on fire. She hit winners left and right, and it was too good for Jabeur, who could not hold on.
Going into the last-four match, the fast-rising Kontaveit holds a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over her Latvian counterpart, with her latest victory being a straight-set thumping of the 13th-ranked Ostapenko at the St Petersburg Open earlier in the month.
Iga Swiatek of Poland, 7thy-seed, scripted a 6-2, 6-3 upset of top-seed Aryna Sabalenka in the last quarter-final match of the day to book her semifinal’s clash against No.6 seed Maria Sakkari. Sakkari, meanwhile, claimed her third win in four meetings against No.14 seed Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 25 minutes.
The Polish player was considered the underdog in this matchup, considering that Sabalenka already won this event in her career, with Swiatek not having the best of times in Doha in the past. Swiatek quickly crushed those assumptions with a furious start to the match, where she took an early 3-0 lead. Swiatek had a double break lead, but after that 3-0 start, we saw four games in a row where the server got broken.
At the end of it, Swiatek still had a double break lead, and she finished off the set with 6-2. The start of the 2nd set saw Sabalenka jump out to a 3-0 lead after a brilliant start where she finally showed what type of tennis she could play. However, it did not last long enough as Sabalenka completely fell apart after missing badly.
Meanwhile, Sakkari, currently ranked at a career-high of No.6 after reaching the St. Petersburg final a fortnight ago, moves into her sixth semifinal at WTA 1000 level or above following Wuhan 2017, Rome 2019, Miami 2021, Roland Garros 2021 and the US Open 2021.
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