Elena Rybakina is through to her sixth WTA 1000 quarterfinal since the start of 2025, and the 18th of her career, after rallying past Zheng Qinwen 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in 2 hours and 27 minutes in Doha. They were followed on Centre Court by Anna Kalinskaya and Elina Svitolina, with Kalinskaya advancing in straight sets to reach her first Doha quarterfinal.
Doha: Scores | Draws | Order of play
Rybakina’s comeback continued her blistering start to the season. The Australian Open champion won her ninth straight match to improve to 11-1 in 2026 and has now taken 16 of her past 17 dating back to last year’s WTA Finals.
With Wednesday night’s win, Rybakina also improved to 3-1 against Zheng in four meetings at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level. Still, Zheng earned credit for pushing the match the distance, becoming just the third player to take a set off Rybakina this year, joining Karolina Muchova and Aryna Sabalenka.
“Qinwen, she started better than me and I started a bit slower, and maybe played passive in a few moments,” Rybakina said in her post-match press conference. “But again, she started really well and then in the second I found a bit of my game and I stepped in. In the third…one break and everything changed.
“But I’m happy that in the end it went my way.”
Zheng took the opening set behind a dominant serving display. Although the former World No. 4 landed only 52% of her first serves, she won all 13 points played behind it. She faced no break points and repeatedly pressured the vaunted Rybakina serve, forcing the Kazakh into long, grinding service games.
One break for a 3-2 lead was all Zheng needed to pocket the opener in 43 minutes.
She held that level through the early stages of the second set, but from there, Rybakina assumed control. The World No. 3 flipped the script to take the set 6-2, facing no break points while generating seven of her own. She feasted on Zheng’s second serve, winning 7 of 11 points, and made hay on her own, winning 7 of 10 in the set to stay out of trouble and force a decider.
Rybakina opened the final set with a confident hold punctuated by a backhand winner, then broke immediately for 2-0. She stretched the lead to 3-0 and later 5-2, looking fully dialed in from both the baseline and the service line for the first extended stretch of the match.
But Zheng mounted a late charge. Rybakina held a match point at 5-2, before Zheng escaped with a hold, then erased a 30-0 deficit in the next game to break for the first time since the opening set to get back on serve. Serving down 5-4, Rybakina was again two points from the finish line when Zheng withstood another deuce point and leveled the set at 5-all with her eighth ace.
Rybakina responded with a composed hold for 6-5, then staged one final push of her own to try and avoid a third-set tiebreak. Down 40-0 in the last game, she won five straight points to reclaim the break and close out the victory on her second match point.
Despite the loss, Zheng’s week was a strong step forward. She came through two three-setters against Sofia Kenin and Alycia Parks before pushing the World No. 3 to the brink.
“I think the problem is during a match I have some up-and-down focus and suddenly I lose concentration for a long time,” Zheng said to reporters after the match. “I guess that’s because for a long time I didn’t compete.
“I hope (by) playing more matches this will get better. (I’m) always looking for things to improve, and that’s what I see from this week.”
Rybakina will next face No. 10 seed Victoria Mboko, who defeated Mirra Andreeva in her own three-set battle royale to reach the quarterfinals. The two met three times last season, with Rybakina holding a 2-1 edge and winning the most recent encounter in Tokyo.
Though few have forgotten Mboko’s monumental win over her in the Canadian Open semifinals, setting the stage for the teenager’s breakthrough moment.
Kalinskaya beats Svitolina for the first time to reach Doha quarterfinals
Kalinskaya brought Svitolina’s run in Doha to a screeching halt with a straight-sets win early Thursday morning, earning her first victory over the Ukrainian and a spot in her first Doha quarterfinal.
With their match not starting until shortly after 11 p.m. local time following three consecutive three-setters on Centre Court, Kalinskaya looked intent on making quick work of the third-round encounter. She did exactly that, closing out a 6-4, 6-3 win in 1 hour and 18 minutes, with the clock reading 12:19 a.m.
She sealed the upset — her 14th career Top 10 win — in style, ripping a forehand winner reminiscent of the one she hit to take the opening set, a final flourish for the fans who stayed deep into the night.
“Thank you,” Kalinskaya said in her on-court interview. “I was worried there were not going to be a lot of people, and I’m surprised. Thank you, guys, for coming and staying, especially the kids over there. I appreciate it.”
The fans were treated to a clinical performance from the 27-year-old, who controlled the match from the outset behind the strength of her serve and her efficiency on return. She finished with pristine numbers from the service line, landing 70% of her first serves and winning 68% of points behind it. She also won 56% of her second serves. On return, she broke Svitolina four times in 10 games, converting four of five break points. She picked apart the Ukrainian’s second serve, winning 15 of 23 points off it.
Kalinskaya’s biggest break came at 3-all in the second set. In the previous game, Svitolina had mustered just her second break point of the match but couldn’t convert; Kalinskaya made sure she didn’t waste her own chance. After Svitolina saved the first of two break points, Kalinskaya converted the second for a 4-3 lead.
It sparked a run of three straight games to close out the match, capped by the aforementioned forehand winner, her 22nd winner of the night.
She’ll face Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals. The Czech should be well-rested after Karlina Pliskova retired from their third-round match trailing 5-2 in the first set. Muchova also holds a 3-0 advantage in the head-to-head, though two of those meetings went three sets and their last encounter came in 2024.
A win would send Kalinskaya to just her second WTA 1000 semifinal and keep alive her hopes of a return to the Top 20.