Unseeded Maria Sakkari of Greece toppled No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Thursday in Doha.
Swiatek wasn’t alone in the early exit, as Canadian No. 10 seed Victoria Mboko knocked out No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
The semifinals of the WTA 1000 event will feature two unseeded players, as Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko will meet Mboko and Sakkari will face Czech 14th seed Karolina Muchova.
Sakkari, ranked as high as No. 3 in the world four years ago, has fallen to No. 52 and hasn’t won a tournament since September 2023. She’s now one step away from her first final appearance since March 2024 at Indian Wells.
“I’m speechless because it’s been a while since I had a big win like today,” Sakkari said in her on-court interview. “When you drop in the rankings and you’re not playing good tennis, you start doubting yourself. And you’re thinking that you’re never going to beat those players again.
“So it’s a huge process that you have to go through in your head, that you know you can do it. Last year in the second round here against (Swiatek), I was not confident. I was not believing in myself. And this year, it’s different. I feel quite a lot better.”
Sakkari built a 4-1 lead in the second set before Swiatek rallied to tie the set with three games in a row. Sakkari saved two break points in the ninth game and broke Swiatek in the 10th to eke out the win and extend the match.
It was a similar story in the third set, as Swiatek charged out of a 5-2 hole and saved one match point to tie it 5-5. Sakkari led the 12th set 40-15 and Swiatek saved a second match point, but not a third as the Greek sealed the deal.
Meanwhile, Rybakina’s nine-match winning streak that includes her Australian Open championship is now over despite having a 4-2 lead in the third set.
Mboko, 19, was down a break but rallied to win the final four games. Rybakina saved three match points in the final game but it only served to put off the inevitable. Mboko won 14 of 18 first-service points in the decisive third set, and she took advantage when Rybakina went to her second serve, winning 9 of 11 second-return points.
Ostapenko beat another unseeded player, Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy, 7-5, 6-4. Muchova swept Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-4.
–Field Level Media
