Swiatek begins title defence with straight-sets victory, Gauff edges out two-time champion Kvitova
Swiatek begins title defence with straight-sets victory, Gauff edges out two-time champion Kvitova
Doha- Defending champion and world No. 1 Iga Swiatek swept aside USA's Danielle Collins in just 53 minutes, posting a 6-0, 6-1 victory, to book a quarterfinal ticket against No. 7 seed Belinda Bencic, who had earlier overturned a 6-1, 4-1 deficit to edge out the 2012 and 2013 winner, Victoria Azarenka, 1-6, 7-6(4), 6-4, on Wednesday.
Swiatek finished the match with eight winners to just six unforced errors, breaking Collins' serve five times. She did not face a break point in the match.
In other matches on the day, No. 4 seed Coco Gauff defeated two-time champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 7-6(6) in 84 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.
Gauff will next face No. 8 seed Veronika Kudermetova, who reached her fourth quarterfinal of
the season with a 6-2, 7-5 defeat of former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin.
The 18-year-old Gauff managed only four winners off the ground, tallying 11 in total thanks to
seven aces, while Kvitova (the 2018 and 2021 champion), on the other hand, racked up 21 winners, including a pair of breathtaking forehands in the second-set tiebreak.
Meanwhile, world No. 4 and second-seeded Jessica Pegula of the USA advanced to the last-eight with a comeback victory, saving two match points before overcoming 2016 finalist Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.
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