<figure id="attachment_3280832" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3280832" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3280832" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/684c952c-iga-swiatek.jpg" alt="Iga Swiatek" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3280832" class="wp-caption-text">Iga Swiatek remained on course for a possible rematch with Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina in the final. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
DOHA: Iga Swiatek came from a set down to defeat Daria Kasatkina on Wednesday and keep her bid for a fourth Qatar Open title alive, as Elena Rybakina also reached the quarter-finals.
The world No 2 recovered to beat Russian-born Australian Kasatkina 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 and set up a tie with Greece&#8217;s Maria Sakkari.
Swiatek, who won the WTA 1000 tournament in 2022, 2023 and 2024, had breezed through her last six meetings with Kasatkina without dropping a set but blew a 5-3 lead to lose the opener.
The six-time Grand Slam champion quickly regrouped, though, racing through the next two sets with six breaks of serve.
&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t an easy match,&#8221; said Swiatek. &#8220;She used the slower surface here and she was going for it more compared to (our) last matches.
&#8220;But you never know if it was her just doing that from the beginning, or me giving her more chances.
&#8220;But for sure I felt like I could do sometimes more in the first set.&#8221;
Swiatek remains on course for a possible rematch with Australian Open champion Rybakina in the final after the Kazakh&#8217;s win in their quarter-final clash at Melbourne Park last month.
Rybakina downs Zheng
Rybakina also had to battle back to defeat China&#8217;s Zheng Qinwen 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 and end the former world No 4&#8217;s first tournament of the year.
Zheng, the 2024 Australian Open runner-up, was playing only her second event since undergoing elbow surgery last July but proved her fitness with three-set wins over Sofia Kenin and Alycia Parks in the previous two rounds.
She produced an excellent first set, losing just four points on serve and taking it with a single break in the fifth game.
But Rybakina was much improved in the second, breaking serve twice to force a decider.
The world No 3 continued her momentum into the third set, racing into a 5-2 lead.
Rybakina, without a WTA 1000 title since the 2023 Italian Open, missed a match point in the next game and was then broken while serving for the match.
But Zheng faltered from 40-0 up when serving to push the set into a tie-break, allowing Rybakina to secure a Thursday quarter-final against Victoria Mboko with a rasping backhand.
Canada&#8217;s Mboko won the battle of the teenagers by saving a match point to knock out fifth seed Mirra Andreeva in a deciding-set tie-break.
The 19-year-old Mboko saved the match point on the Andreeva serve late in the third set before sealing a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) success.
&#8220;I feel like I came out with some very clutch shots at the end,&#8221; said Mboko.
&#8220;I think we both were pretty tired when it came to the tie-break. I think I felt like I was lucky enough to have some good shots in the great moments.&#8221;
Jelena Ostapenko, last year&#8217;s runner-up, saw off Colombian Camila Osorio 6-3, 6-1 to set up a last-eight tie with Elisabetta Cocciaretto.
Italian lucky loser Cocciaretto backed up her second-round win over Coco Gauff by beating Ann Li 7-6 (7/5), 5-7, 6-4.
Czech Karolina Muchova also reached the quarters when compatriot and former world number one Karolina Pliskova retired injured from their last-16 match when trailing 5-2 in the first set.
Sakkari defeated France&#8217;s Varvara Gracheva 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 in the opening tie of the day.

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