Ekaterina Alexandrova extended her winning streak to eight matches and advanced to her third career WTA 1000 semifinal after hitting top form to defeat No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the Qatar TotalEnergies Open quarterfinals.

Doha: Draws | Scores | Order of Play

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Alexandrova, who lifted her fifth Hologic WTA Tour trophy two weeks ago in Linz, has equalled her career-best winning streak. This is the third time she has put together eight straight victories at tour level, following her runs in autumn 2022 (Seoul title, Ostrava semifinal) and summer 2023 ('s-Hertogenbosch title, Berlin semifinal).

Miami déjà vu: The 30-year-old's two prior WTA 1000 semifinal showings came at Madrid 2022 and Miami 2024, and her performance in Doha echoes the latter in particular. In Miami last year, Alexandrova scored her first win over a reigning World No. 1, besting Iga Swiatek in the fourth round, then backed it up with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 quarterfinal defeat of Pegula.

This week, she ousted current World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the second round, and has once again come from a set down to beat Pegula in the last eight. Alexandrova now owns a 2-1 record against Pegula, including both their hard-court meetings, and the result is her eighth career Top 5 win.

Despite her hot form, this run was somewhat unexpected for Alexandrova. She faced former US Open champion Emma Raducanu -- who had beaten her a month previously at the Australian Open -- in the first round, then Sabalenka in the second.

"When I saw the draw I thought, 'Maybe not so far,'" she said with a laugh in her on-court interview.

Roaring back from behind: Alexandrova came out of the blocks slowly, to put it mildly. She coughed up three double faults in the first game of the match to concede serve immediately, and never recovered in the opener. Twenty-four unforced errors littered Alexandrova's first-set stat sheet; Pegula, striking her forehand with relish, took full advantage.

But the American contributed an error-strewn opening service game in the second set -- and Alexandrova needed no further encouragement to roar back. A slew of backhand winners and a meagre four unforced errors highlighted her second-set performance.

If anything, Alexandrova grew ever more impressive as the finishing line drew closer. She found clean return winners to convert break points for 2-1 and 4-1 in the third set. She managed to leap, stretch and just about find a winning smash to hold for 5-1. And in the final game, when Pegula began to throw the kitchen sink of slices, drop shots and angles at her, Alexandrova was equal to it all. On her second match point, a Pegula backhand sailed out of bounds, and Alexandrova was through.

Next up: Alexandrova will bid to reach her first WTA 1000 final against another unseeded player, either Marta Kostyuk or Amanda Anisimova. She owns a 2-0 record against Kostyuk, and has split two previous meetings with Anisimova. After defeating Pegula, she vowed that she wasn't done yet.

"I'm really happy with the way I'm playing right now," she said. "And I want to keep it as long as possible -- no matter what."