DOHA: Garbine Muguruza outlasted third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in a close second-round match at the Qatar Open on Wednesday, while top-seeded Elina Svitolina eased into the quarter-finals.

Muguruza won 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 after she served for the match at 6-5 in the second set before Sabalenka broke her serve and won the following tiebreaker.

The 16th-ranked Spanish faces Maria Sakkari of Greece in the quarters. Sakkari won 6-2, 6-2 against Madison Keys. Svitolina cruised through her match against Misaki Doi 6-1, 6-2. Svitolina’s quarter-final opponent is Victoria Azarenka, who beat Laura Siegemund 6-4, 6-2.

Karolina Pliskova, seeded second, won 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur. Next up for Pliskova is Jessica Pegula of US, who beat Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 7-5.

Petra Kvitova defeated Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyu­chenkova 6-1, 6-3. Kvitova next plays Anett Kontaveit, who won 6-1, 6-4 against Angelique Kerber.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2021