DOHA, Qatar – Three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek reached the Qatar Open semi-finals by beating Elena Rybakina 6-2, 7-5.
Ekaterina Alexandrova continued her winning run by eliminating sixth-seeded Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. The Russian, who is ranked 26th, defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka earlier this week.
Swiatek will face Jelena Ostapenko, who beat Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-2, for a spot in the final.
“The second set I felt like she raised her level so I needed to do that too,” the second-ranked Swiatek said after defeating Rybakina in what was a rematch of last year’s title match.
Rybakina began the year with a 4-2 advantage head-to-head against Swiatek, but now they are tied.
In a rematch of last year’s championship match, Swiatek came from 4-2 down in the second set, and saved two break points at 4-4, before eventually wrapping up a straight-sets victory in 1 hour and 36 minutes.
After beating Rybakina at last month’s United Cup, Swiatek has now leveled her all-time head-to-head against the Kazakh to 4-4, and she continues on her quest to be just the second WTA player since 2000 to win four straight titles at a single event.
“When I saw the draw I thought maybe I will not get very far,” Alexandrova said according to AP. “But overall so far played great matches here. I hope it continues.”
After a 36-minute first set, where Swiatek won the first three games and never faced a break point, Rybakina converted on her second chance in the second set’s opening game to set a new tone for the match.
What followed was an hour-long set in which Rybakina bent, but never broke — at least at first. She saved two break points in her first service game to lead 2-0, and three more the next time she stepped to the line to extend her advantage to 3-1.
But handed a sixth break point in the set at 4-3, 15-40, it was Swiatek’s turn to come up with clutch play. As Rybakina charged the net off of a well-timed backhand, Swiatek whipped a forehand past her for the break back.
“I’m super happy, super proud of myself. Playing against Elena is never easy,” Swiatek said afterwards.
“At the beginning of the second set, she increased her level, so I needed to do that too to come back.
I’m really happy, especially in the last game, to break Elena, because with her serve, it’s tough.”
The win is Swiatek’s 100th at WTA 1000 level in 121 matches played — making her the second-fastest to the milestone after Serena Williams, who played 115 WTA 1000 matches to do it.
Ostapenko lost to Jabeur last week at the WTA 500 Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, 7-6(4), 7-5, which put her season’s singles record at 1-4.
But with four straight-set victories this week, including upsets of No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini and No. 16 seed Liudmila Samsonova, the 2017 Roland Garros champion has found her form in singles after started the year with strong doubles runs like a runner-up finish at the Australian Open with Hsieh Su-wei, and a win in Abu Dhabi with Ellen Perez.
Alexandrova, who lifted her fifth Hologic WTA Tour trophy two weeks ago in Linz, has equalled her career-best winning streak.
This is the third time she has put together eight straight victories at tour level, following her runs in autumn 2022 (Seoul title, Ostrava semi-final) and summer 2023 (‘s-Hertogenbosch title, Berlin semi-final).
The 30-year-old’s two prior WTA 1000 semifinal showings came at Madrid 2022 and Miami 2024, and her performance in Doha echoes the latter in particular.
In Miami last year, Alexandrova scored her first win over a reigning World No. 1, besting Swiatek in the fourth round, then backed it up with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 quarter-final defeat of Pegula.
This week, she ousted current World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the second round, and has once again come from a set down to beat Pegula in the last eight. Alexandrova now owns a 2-1 record against Pegula, including both their hard-court meetings, and the result is her eighth career Top 5 win.
