India’s Sania Mirza continued to display her excellent form as she proceeded further to the semi-finals along with her Sloven Doubles partner, Andreja Klepec, in the Qatar Open on Wednesday. Mirza and Klepec established a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 victory in straight sets over fourth-seeded Anna Blinkova from Russia and her Canadian partner, Gabriela Dabrowski in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Earlier this week, the duo made a victorious return to the WTA circuit, where they defeated the Ukranian pair of Nadiia Kichenok and Lyudmyla Kichenok with 6-4, 6-7(5) and 10-5, in the opening round of the event. This match also happened to be the first match Mirza played since the past 12 months, and co-incidentally Qatar Open was the last tournament she played, after which the Covid-19 outbreak happened.
In the previous campaign, Mirza brought the country’s first ever Fed Cup Heart Award in Asia/Oceania category home, that witnessed more than 10,000 votes out of the total 16,985 cast straight to her name.
The ongoing Qatar Open in Doha also witnesses a remarkable dip in the prize money as a result of a direct impact from the global pandemic. According to reports, the prize money has seen a dip of nearly 70% in both the singles and doubles, with the winners being able to take home just around $69,000 and $22,500 respectively, as against the preceding year.
Latest results at Qatar Open
Women’s Singles Round of 16
- Anett Kontaveit, Estonia, def. Angelique Kerber, Germany, 6-1, 6-4.
- Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, def. Laura Siegemund, Germany, 6-4, 6-2.
- Jessica Pegula, United States, def. Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, 6-2, 7-5.
- Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 6-1, 6-3.
- Maria Sakkari, Greece, def. Madison Keys, United States, 6-2, 6-2.
- Elina Svitolina, Ukraine, def. Misaki Doi, Japan, 6-1, 6-2.
Women’s Doubles Quarterfinals
- Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova , Czech Republic, def. Kiki Bertens and Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, Netherlands, 4-6, 6-4, 13-11.
- Sania Mirza, India, and Andreja Klepac, Slovenia, def. Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Anna Blinkova, Russia, 6-2, 6-0.
- Nicole Melichar, United States, and Demi Schuurs, Netherlands, def. Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jessica Pegula, United States, 6-1, 6-1.
- Monica Niculescu, Romania, and Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, def. Elena Vesnina, Russia, and Laura Siegemund, Germany, 6-3, 6-4.