Iga Swiatek dominated Danielle Collins in 54 minutes to reach the quarter-finals in Doha while Jessica Pegula edged out Jelena Ostapenko in three sets.
Starting with Swiatek, the world number one was playing her first match since the Australian Open.
Swiatek was knocked out in the last 16 in Melbourne to Elena Rybakina but showed no signs of a lack of confidence as the Pole dismantled Collins in 54 minutes.
The top seed broke on five occasions as she dictated play from the return while shutting out any sign of attack from the American.
Collins didn’t create a single break point as the former Australian Open finalist was heavily beaten, winning only one game.
After the match Swiatek told the WTA website about how her confidence was the key to victory, “[I felt] pretty confident,” Swiatek explained.
“I’m happy that I was kind of composed and from the beginning till the end pretty focused and disciplined with tactics. I didn’t really let Danielle get into the rhythm. I wanted to be aggressive. I’m pretty happy that I did that well.”
Swiatek faces a big task in the last eight as she takes on the in-form Belinda Bencic.
Bencic is on a six match winning streak after winning Abu Dhabi last week but had to work hard to defeat Victoria Azarenka.
The Swiss made a poor start to the match which allowed the former Grand Slam champion use her power to dictate play from the baseline.
Azarenka stormed through the opening set, 6-1 and took an early double break lead in the second set at 4-1 as Bencic started to doubt whether today would be her day.
However Bencic’s recent confidence and red-hot start to the season allowed her to find her range eventually as she mentally zoned in on being more aggressive and consistent.
Bencic won four games to take a 5-4 lead as the world number nine’s resilience was rewarded with a second set tiebreak.
It was Bencic who took more risks in the bigger moments as she took the tiebreak 7-4 and levelled the match at one set all.
That would be the crucial momentum shift as Azarenka was broken in the opening game of the final set as the Swiss held her nerve to secure a showdown with Swiatek.
Pegula Mounts Comeback Victory
Bencic wasn’t the only player to secure a comeback victory in Doha as Jessica Pegula also came back from a severe deficit to reach the quarter-finals.
Pegula played former Grand Slam champion Jelena Ostapenko as the American was playing her first tournament since reaching the Australian Open semi-finals.
After splitting the opening two sets 6-2, there was a real danger that Pegula was going to exit the tournament as Ostapenko took control of the match gaining an early break at 2-0.
However from 5-2 down, Pegula raised her level as she saved two match points and secured two breaks as well as five games in a row to secure victory.
Next for Pegula is Beatriz Haddad Maia who beat Daria Kasatkina in straight sets.
Other noteworthy results include Coco Gauff defeating Petra Kvitova in straight sets while Veronika Kudermetova defeated Sofia Kenin in straight sets.
Thursday will see the quarter-finals take shape which will see the following matches take place:
Iga Swiatek v Belinda Bencic
Coco Gauff v Veronika Kudermetova
Maria Sakkari v Karolina Muchova or Caroline Garcia
Beatriz Haddad Maia v Jessica Pegula.
