ABU DHABI: Top seed Daria Kasatkina survived an early scare to secure her spot in the quarterfinals of the inaugural Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open presented by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council.
The World No. 8 emerged following tricky conditions with a 1-6, 6-0, 6-2 win over Jil Teichmann on Thursday at the International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City.
A slow start from Kasatkina allowed Teichmann to take the lead in a swift first set, before the top-ranked player in Abu Dhabi fired back to level the match with a 6-0 second set. In the third set, an early break from the World No. 8 helped close out the match.
On her opening victory, Kasatkina said: “It was an important win just to get the confidence of playing and winning in this tournament and to understand the play on this court with the lights and the difficult conditions with the wind tonight.
“I’m happy as after that first rough set, I was able to be calm and recover and find a way to make the opponent uncomfortable. I’m happy that my head was clear and that I was able to win and progress today.”
Elena Rybakina continued her promising start to 2023, winning in straight sets over former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova to book her place in the quarterfinals. The new World No. 10 powered through the wind with a 6-4, 6-2 win in her first match in Abu Dhabi to secure her place in the quarterfinals starting on Friday.
Following her victory, Rybakina said: “It was nice to get the victory today. It was challenging today with the conditions with the wind, but we have to adapt and overall, I’m happy with the win.
“I enjoy playing in the UAE. I’ve trained for preseason here and it’s always nice to spend time here. I’m looking forward to the next matches and it’s nice to be playing in this new tournament.”
Earlier, Liudmila Samsonova battled past Barbora Krejcikova in a tight encounter, recording a 7-5, 7-6 victory to progress to Friday’s quarterfinals. Krejickova, the women’s doubles champion in last month’s Australian Open, saved five match points before losing out to Samsonova in a second-set tiebreak. The victory for Samsonova sets up a quarterfinal matchup with World No. 11 Veronika Kudermetova on Friday.
The final match saw the longest action of the day, as Beatriz Haddad Maia saw off Yulia Putintseva to win 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 in over three hours of play. A quick 6-4 first set for Haddad Maia was followed by an epic 88-minute second set, with Putintseva refusing to give in, saving three match points to clinch the tiebreak. Haddad Maia would then close out the match, taking the third set 7-6 victory through a final tiebreak, securing her spot in Friday’s quarterfinal match against third seed Rybakina.
In the doubles quarterfinal matches, Luisa Stefani and Shuai Zhang won in straight sets against Kirsten Flipkens and Laura Siegemund with a 6-4, 6-4 victory to stroll into Saturday’s semifinals. Desirae Krawczyk and Giuliana Olmos followed with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic to secure their spot in the semifinals in Abu Dhabi.
In Friday’s quarterfinal matches, American qualifier Shelby Rogers will take on World No. 9 Belinda Bencic to open the action on Stadium Court before top seed Kasatkina faces Qinwen Zheng. Haddad Maia will be aiming for an upset, as she takes on third seed Rybakina with the evening’s final match seeing Veronika Kudermetova go up against Samsonova.
In the remaining doubles quarterfinal encounter, Miyu Kato and Monica Niculescu will play against Yang Zhaoxuan and Vera Zvonareva on Court 1 for a place in the semifinal on Saturday.
