Naomi Osaka’s journey at the Qatar Open came to a close in the quarter-finals after a close loss to Karolina Pliskova.
The previous top-ranked player reached the quarter-finals of a tournament for the first time in almost two years after taking a break for maternity leave. However, despite starting strong in both sets, she was unable to take advantage. It was instead Pliskova, who had won the Transylvania Open the previous week, who carried her winning streak and secured a victory in two tie-breaks with a score of 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5).
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Iga Swiatek, the top-seeded and two-time defending champion, will now face the Czech player after maintaining her dominance in Doha with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Victoria Azarenka. Despite being behind 4-3 in the first set, the world’s number one player won nine consecutive games to keep her hopes alive for a third consecutive title.
The next semi-final match will feature third seed Elena Rybakina, who is currently playing well, against unseeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Pavlyuchenkova achieved her best performance at a WTA 1000 event by winning 7-5, 6-4 against Danielle Collins, while Rybakina made a comeback from being down 4-1 in the first set to defeat Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2.
