Qatar Open: Surging Pliskova edges Osaka in a battle of former No 1s

Karolina Pliskova stretched her winning streak to nine victories by defeating Naomi Osaka in a battle of former world No 1 players, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5), to reach the last four of the Qatar Open at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on Thursday evening.

Pliskova, ranked No 59, will face Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, next. The former world No 1, who captured her 17th career title in Cluj-Napoca in Romania last week has won nine matches in the last ten days.

“Super happy to have many matches in a row,” Pliskova said after the win. “I feel like with every match I am getting better and better.”

31-year-old Pliskova reaches her 15th WTA 1000 semi-final and will face Swiatek for the fourth time. The top-ranked Pole has won all three previous meetings.

Pliskova had to work to finish off Osaka. The four-time major champion saved a quartet of match points late in the second set, and rallied from 3-0 down to 5-5 in the tiebreak, but Pliskova finished off her win with grace under pressure, crossing the finish line in one hour and 44 minutes.

Pliskova kept a tidy stat sheet, hitting 26 winners against 14 unforced errors, while Osaka cracked 36 winner but committed 23 unforced errors.

The semi-finals are now set in Doha:

Karolina Pliskova defeated Russian wildcard Anna Kalinskaya (2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4), Russian Anastasia Potapova (6-1, 5-7, 6-4) and Linda Noskova (3-6, 7-5, 6-1) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Qatar tournament, Naomi Osaka won against Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, the No 15 seed (7-5, 6-4), Croat Petra Martic (6-3, 7-6 (9)) and Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko (W/O).

Doha WTA 1000, other quarter-finals results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 3.211.715, most recent results first):

• Iga Swiatek beat Victoria Azarenka: 6-4, 6-0
• Elena Rybakina (3) beat Leylah Fernandez: 6-4, 6-2
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Danielle Collins (Q): 7-5, 6-4

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