No.4 seed Anett Kontaveit extended her winning streak to eight with a 6-4, 6-1 defeat of No.8 seed Ons Jabeur in 1 hour and 11 minutes to reach the Qatar TotalEnergies Open semifinals. Earlier, No.6 seed Maria Sakkari claimed her third win in four meetings against No.14 seed Coco Gauff to move through 6-3, 6-3 in 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Kontaveit, the champion in St. Petersburg two weeks ago and the winner of five titles over the past seven months, had not beaten Jabeur in a completed match since 2014. Since that victory, in the first round of the Preston ITF W25 event, the Tunisian had taken three straight matches in the series, including in the 2021 Indian Wells quarterfinals - one of only two losses Kontaveit suffered last autumn.

Kontaveit had won their Sydney quarterfinal a month ago via retirement, with a back injury forcing Jabeur out of that match and, later, the Australian Open. But the Estonian finished what she had started there with a thoroughly dominant performance. 

By the numbers: Kontaveit slammed 20 winners to Jabeur's 19, but kept her unforced error count to an impressively meagre 12 compared to Jabeur's 28. Throughout, she was unbothered by the array of slices and variety that Jabeur threw at her, frequently proving the more patient of the two in extended rallies.

Similarly, a 65% first-serve percentage enabled her to keep Jabeur at bay, and Kontaveit faced only one break point in the match, in the third game of the second set. By contrast, Jabeur landed 53% of her first deliveries and won only 44% of the points behind her second as the Estonian repeatedly teed off on it.

Turning point: The pair were neck-and-neck through a high-quality first set, though Jabeur had needed to battle for 10 minutes to hold her opening service game and to save four break points across her first two. With the set poised at 4-4, 30-30, Jabeur squandered a rare half-chance on the Kontaveit serve with consecutive backhand errors - and promptly collapsed at the most crucial stage of the match.

Kontaveit rattled through 15 out of 16 points to take the first set and open up a 2-0 lead in the second as Jabeur offered up a slew of netted dropshots and wildly slapped groundstrokes. The World No.10 gathered herself sufficiently to arrest the slide with a battling hold for 1-3 after six deuces, but it did lead to anything more.

Instead, Kontaveit resumed total control to take 12 of the last 15 points of the match, sealing victory as another Jabeur forehand found the net.

Fast facts: Kontaveit has reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal since Miami 2019, and fourth overall, having also made that stage at Rome 2018 and been runner-up at Wuhan 2018. The 26-year-old has now won nine of her past 13 matches against Top 10 opposition dating back to Eastbourne last year, where she reached the final.

In Kontaveit's words: "I thought the level was very good," she said afterwards. "I felt like she was hitting an ace, I was hitting a winner, she was hitting a good serve, I was hitting a winner. At times it was just kind of fun because I felt like the level was really good and I was playing really well.

"I think I have this confidence that I can go deep every week that I'm playing, and I'm not setting these mental barriers to myself that I used to do. I'm very happy with being in the semifinals, but I also feel like I can still go deeper, I can still do more. So I'm not too satisfied yet with this result, and I feel like if I play well or if I'm consistent, I have a chance with anyone.

"I'm really happy that I'm bringing a good level of tennis consistently every tournament. I think that's something that I'm just most pleased with."

What's next for Kontaveit: A rematch of the Eastbourne final last June and St. Petersburg semifinal two weeks ago against No.15 seed Jelena Ostapenko, who is on her own nine-match winning streak after defeating Garbiñe Muguruza. Ostapenko's Eastbourne victory is her only win in their four previous pro encounters; Kontaveit won 6-3, 6-4 in St. Petersburg.

Head to Head

- Insights from
- Insights from
-
anett kontaveit
  • Sorry, we couldn't find any players that match your search.
EST
More Head to Head
80% Win 4
- Matches Played
20% Win 1
-
jelena ostapenko
  • Sorry, we couldn't find any players that match your search.
LAT

Sakkari maintains edge in Gauff rivalry following hospitalisation

Sakkari previously defeated Gauff at the 2020 Western & Southern Open and Abu Dhabi 2021, but the American captured her first victory in the series on clay at Rome 2021. Back on hard courts, though, Sakkari took charge of the rivalry again.

The Greek player came through a three-deuce tussle to break Gauff in the first game, with her strategy of targeting the 17-year-old's forehand paying immediate dividends. Over the course of the match, Sakkari would effectively break it down; that wing was responsible for a large proportion of Gauff's 26 unforced errors.

Highlights: Sakkari d. Gauff

Sakkari, currently ranked at a career high of No.6 after reaching the St. Petersburg final a fortnight ago, also protected her own serve well. She landed 67% of her first serves and did not face a break point until she led 6-3, 4-0. Judicious net approaches also garnered her success throughout.

Gauff mounted a comeback with her back to the wall, with her net skills and some superb backhand strikes enabling her to claw one of the breaks back, and even held two points to get back on serve in the final game. However, Sakkari shook off some shaky play in the home stretch to pull off a brilliant reflex volley and then put away a forehand off a net cord on the final two points.

Sakkari moves into her sixth semifinal at WTA 1000 level or above following Wuhan 2017, Rome 2019, Miami 2021, Roland Garros 2021 and the US Open 2021. She will bid to make her first final at this level against either No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka or No.7 seed Iga Swiatek.

Afterwards, Sakkari revealed that she had started the week in suboptimal fashion after requiring hospital treatment.

"This tournament did not start the way I wanted," she said. "I was in the hospital all Monday morning. I had a very sharp pain in my lower stomach. I just didn't know if I was going to be able to play this tournament, because I was very, very bad, like I was dying. Three hours before the match, I just left the hospital and, OK, I'll go try and play and see what I can do

"Three days later, I'm in the semifinal, which gave me actually a lot of confidence, because it shows how much mental strength I have and of course physical strength, as well.

"I'm good [now]. Not 100%, I still get aches and pains on my stomach, but I'm a lot better. You can tell that I'm in good shape. With the way I played today and yesterday, I'm feeling good again.

"This week was a very strange week. Even today before my match, [coach] Tom [Hill] was like, 'Look, I'm very proud with the way you have handled the pain you had and the whole situation with being in the hospital and then coming out and playing. You know, we did not expect you to play, so we are very proud of you making the quarterfinals.'

"I think they are even more proud with the way I played today. Yeah, that clearly gives me so much confidence because of the reasons why I said before, because it shows how much mental and physical strength I do have. Sometimes we are humans and we can forget that.

"It was a good reminder after a tough loss last week to remind myself that you have some very good things in your body and in your brain."