Iga Swiatek moved to within a pair of wins in her quest for four titles in a row at the WTA Qatar tournament as the five-time grand Slam champion defeated Elena Rybakina 6-2, 7-5 on Thursday.

Former world No. 1 Swiatek has been dominant in the Gulf and now needs victories in the semis and final to collect her fourth trophy at the event.

The Pole earned her 15th straight win at the tournament, fighting from 4-2 down in the second set, in a comeback to complete her quarter-final success.

The win in 96 minutes matched a defeat of 2022 Wimbledon winner Rybakina at last month’s United Cup and leaves the pair locked at 4-all in their series.

World No. 5 Jessica Pegula, losing finalist to Swiatek here two years ago, went down in an upset loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 with the winner booking her third career semi-final at the elite 1000-level series.

Alexandrova is fresh from a title in Linz and has now won her last eight matches.

She knocked out world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka here in the second round and had to fight from a set down to overcome sixth seed Pegula.

Main photo:- Iga Swiatek on her way to Qatar semi finals – by WTATennis.com

Coco Gauff’s Gulf tennis trip got off to the worst possible start on Tuesday, with the US Open champion upset by Katerina Siniakova 6-2, 6-4 at the Qatar Open.

The second-seeded American became the first Top 5 victim for the Czech winner in five years.

The No. 42 recovered from 4-0 down in the second set to complete victory in 80 minutes, running her record against the teenager to 2-5.

Siniakova now gets a second American when she plays American, Danielle Collins, set to retire at the end of the season.

“I will try to focus on my game and fight every point, and hopefully it will be a really good game,” Siniakova said of her next challenge

Siniakova broke Gauff six times from 14 chances while dropping her own serve three times.

Emma Raducanu exited almost before she began on Monday as the Brit was dealt out of the WTA Qatar Open in a first-round loss to 30th-ranked Anhelina Kalinina 6-0, 7-6 (6).

2021 US Open winner Raducanu, whose career has taken a nosedive since that Grand Slam surprise in New York, was plagued by nearly 50 unforced errors as she went down to her Ukrainian opponent to end a so-so trip to the Gulf.

The No. 296 Brit, playing on a wild card, won a round last week in Abu Dhabi before sixth-ranked Ons Jabeur sent her packing in the second round; she will now return to London pondering her game.

Raducanu saved a pair of match points in the second set but the effort was too late in the disheartening defeat; she also fought off 10 of 15 break points against her serve.

“I was struggling with everything – serve, return, forehand, backhand,” she said.

“I felt like I never really got into it.

“It was combination of things (her first day match in a year after surgeries on wrists and a knee in 2023).

“I need to practise training outside a bit more. The lights, conditions, shadows… it is really hard to see the ball, I found towards the end.

“When my tennis isn’t there I have to try and at least fight and I did that in the second set.”

Raducanu said she has yet to get re-accustomed to the torrid pace of WTA Tour life after missing much of last season with injury. 

Elsewhere on court, ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova pulled out with a back injury while Canadian – runner-up to Raducanu three years ago in the New York final, Leylah Fernandez, advanced over 12th seed Liudmila Samsonova 7-5, 7-6 after more than two hours.

She now plays Spain’s Paula Badosa, who put out teenaged old qualifier Ashlyn Krueger 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in a match concluded on Monday after being halted for rain the evening before due to rain.