Iga Swiatek battled back from one set down to beat number 33 Linda Noskova 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-4 in the Round of 16 at the Qatar Total Enegies Open in Doha.
Swiatek avenged her defeat against Noskova, who beat her Polish rival at the Australian Open in 2023.
Both players went on serve en route to the tie-break. Noskova cruised through the first set tie-break 7-1 with four mini-breaks. She held serve to start the second set and went up 0-30 on Swiatek’s serve in the next game, but Swiatek came back to hold serve for 1-1. Swiatek broke serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Noskova broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Swiatek broke for the second time and held her next service games to win the second set 6-4.
As Swiatek was serving at 3-4 in the third set, Noskova went up 0-30. Swiatek drew level to 30-30 as Noskova mssed two returns. Swiatek broke serve to take a 5-4 lead, when Noskova missed three forehands. Swiatek sealed the win on her second match point, a sNoskova hit a forehand into the net.
“Every match against Linda is always super tough. It was not easy with her serve, which was perfect”, said Swiatek.
Swiatek has continued her winning streak to clinch her 14thconsecutive match in Doha keeping alive her chances to win her fourth title in Doha.
Swiatek has reached her 19th WTA 1000 quarter final from 32 main draws.
Swiatek set up a quarter final match against Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina has won both of her head-to-head matches on clay against Swiatek in Rome in 2023 and Roland Garros 2024.
Jelena Ostapenko beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-2 to notch her top 10 win since 2023. Ostapenko broke twice in the third and fifth games to win the first set 6-2. Paolini went up a 2-0 lead with an early break in the second set, but Ostapenko reeled off the final six games of the set with three breaks of serve to seal the win after just 63 minutes.
Ostapenko set up a quarter final match against Ons Jabeur, who beat Sofia Kenin 6-4 6-4. Jabeur has reached three quarter finals in the 2025 season after Brisbane and Abu Dhabi.
Ostapenko has clinched the 12th win against a top 5 player. The last time she beat a top 10 opponent dates back to the 2023 Beijing third round, where she beat Jessica Pegua 6-4 6-2.
Ostapenko did not score back-to-back wins agains for seven months, after reaching her sixth Grand Slam quarter final at Wimbledon.
