Swiatek survives Noskova ace barrage to make Doha quarters

Iga Swiatek remains on course for a fourth straight Qatar Open title but only after she survived a barrage of aces from Linda Noskova to edge out the Czech 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4 in the third round at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on Wednesday afternoon.

Noskova hit 16 aces but Swiatek, the No 2 seed, rallied brilliantly, breaking in the ninth game of the decider before serving out to set up a clash with Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 5 seed, next.

Noskova bundled Swiatek out of the Australian Open in the third round last year and again gave the Pole all sorts of trouble but the world No 2 held firm, especially in the third set, to move through.

In the previous round of the Qatar tournament, the Pole won against Greek Maria Sakkari (6-3, 6-2).

Noskova, ranked No 33, defeated Croat Donna Vekic, the No 15 seed (6-2, 6-4) and Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (6-2, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.

Doha WTA 1000, other last 16 results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 3.664.963, most recent results first):

• Amanda Anisimova vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Ons Jabeur vs. Sofia Kenin
• Ekaterina Alexandrova beat Elise Mertens: 6-4, 6-2
• Marta Kostyuk beat Magda Linette: 6-4, 6-2
• Jessica Pegula (6) beat Daria Kasatkina (10): 6-3, 7-5
• Jelena Ostapenko beat Jasmine Paolini (4): 6-2, 6-2
• Elena Rybakina beat Rebecca Sramkova: 7-6 (1), 6-2