Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina, Angelique Kerber and Elise Mertens won their Thursday’s quarterfinals, becoming the last four women standing at the $916,131 Qatar Total Open in Doha.
The fourth-seeded Svitolina opened quarterfinal action and brushed aside Czech qualifier Karolina Muchova 6-4 6-2. The Ukrainian’s next opponent will be top seed Halep, who battled through two tiebreaks to overcome ninth seed Julia Goerges 7-6(1) 7-6(6). Svitolina leads Halep 4-2 in their head-to-head stats, having beaten the Romanian in their last three encounters.
The third-seeded Kerber gave away the first set to Barbora Strycova, but recovered to triumph 1-6 6-2 7-6(4). The German’s opponent in the semifinals will be Belgium’s Elise Mertens, a 6-4 6-3 victor over fifth seed Kiki Bertens in the last quarterfinal on Thursday. Kerber and Mertens have never faced each other so far.
MORE QATAR TOTAL OPEN 2019 PHOTOS:
- Wednesday: Quarterfinals set, Halep and Kerber deliver after Pliskova withdrawal
- Tuesday: Top seed Halep arrives, first-round action completes
- Monday: Players’ party
- Sunday: Second round of qualifying
