Jabeur put on a convincing display in front of a lively Tunisian crowd after defending champion Swiatek was pushed to her limits by a 20-year-old.
Ons Jabeur continued her strong start to 2025 with another commanding victory in Doha, while defending champion Iga Swiatek overcame an early deficit to advance to the last eight at the ongoing Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Wednesday.
Jabeur defeated Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-4 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex to record her third consecutive win in the tournament.
The Tunisian capitalised on a strong start , racing to a 3-0 lead before comfortably winning the first set 6-3.
“I knew she [Kenin] was going to play better, hence I needed to take that first set and see how the second set goes,” Jabeur told Doha News after booking the quarterfinal tie against Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko on Thursday.
The 30-year-old was then met with some resistance as Kenin put on a stronger show in the second set, which was tied at 3-3 at one point.
Jabeur’s head-to-head record against the American coming into the tie was not something to be confident about, as she trailed the 2020 Australian Open winner 6-2. On Wednesday, however, the Tunisian was quick to close the second set at 6-4 to secure the win.
“It was a very intense match and she had really tough strikes,” Jabeur said. “It was very difficult to control the game but I’m glad that I capitalised on the opportunities that I got during the match.”
Defending champion Swiatek made to work
Before Jabeur’s win at the centre court, Swiatek made an impressive comeback after dropping the first set to Czechia’s Linda Noskova, keeping her unbeaten run in Doha intact.
Noskova claimed the first set by 7-6 in a thrilling tie-breaker, marking Swiatek’s first set loss in over three years at the tournament.
Swiatek, known for performing against the tide, rallied back to dominate the next two sets, securing a hard-fought victory in nearly two and a half hours, despite facing an opponent ranked 31 spots below her.
The win pits Swiatek against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals on Thursday as the Pole bids for her fourth consecutive Qatar TotalEnergies title.
The current world number two stressed that she wasn’t focused on winning the title just yet, preferring to take things one step at a time.
“For sure, it will be nice to win some tournaments, but it’s never helpful to think about it before,” Swiatek said after the match. “You have to focus on every match specifically and do it step by step, so I’m going to try to do that again.”
A successful title defence will make the 23-year-old only the second woman to win the same tournament four consecutive times this century, after Caroline Wozniacki’s streak in the Connecticut Open from 2008 to 2011.
Rybakina, Kostyuk advance as Paolini crashes out
The collapse of top seeds continued in Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Wednesday as Italy’s world number four Jasmine Paolini lost on straight sets to Latvia’s Ostapenko.
Paolini, the joint-highest-ranked Italian ever, suffered a 6-2, 6-2 loss as Ostapenko clinched her 22nd career top-10 win to tee up against Jabeur on Thursday.
On the other hand, Kazakhstan’s Rybakina overcame Rebecca Sramkova 7-6, 6-2 to book a last-eight berth which will see her face a tough opponent in Iga Swiatek.
Ekaterina Alexandrova, fresh off her emphatic win over top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, continued her surge with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Belgium’s Elise Mertens. The 30-year-old will now face world number six Jessica Pegula of the U.S., who defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 7-5 to advance.
Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk will face Amanda Anisimova on Thursday after advancing with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Poland’s Magda Linette. Anisimova booked her quarterfinal spot after a commanding win 6-3, 6-0 win over Canada’s Leylah Fernandez.
