Zheng stuns Bertens in Doha thriller

Unseeded Chinese Zheng stunned seventh seed Kiki Bertens of The Netherlands to make it to quarter-final of the Qatar Total Open on a windy day in Doha.

Also making it to the last eight  were World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, Petra Kvitová and tour veteran Svetlana Kuznetsova, who took contrasting routes to advance at the Premier 5 event.

Yesterday at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex, Zheng showed tremendous court-coverage and smart wind-tennis in the final set to notch a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.

Zheng was too hot for Bertens to handle and with tricky windy conditions, Bertens found it tough to find space to hit through her. Bertens was struggling with her serve, winning just 46% of her 1st serve points. Although she won the first set, an aggressive Zheng took matters into her hand to carve out an impressive win in two hours twenty minutes. 

“I have same tactic from the 1st set, but it didn’t work from the beginning. But gradually into the match and more pressure, pressure, pressure then suddenly you can see my game start to work. So I have to be more patient. 3rd set I think she felt that pressure,” Zheng said.

For the Chinese, it was her second Premier 5 quarter-final and her first one was incidentally also in Doha four years back.

“Feels great,” she said when reminded that it was in Doha she made her maiden Premier 5 event quarter-final. 

“The last time it was like, I don’t know, a long time ago and I remember last time I also played some amazing tennis here. It’s just, I don’t know, just to come back you have the right feelings and you just go for your heart,” she added.

It was also Zheng’s first top 10 win since defeating Aryna Sabalenka to win San Jose last summer.  Zheng and Sabalenka will face off today for a spot in the Doha semi-finals.

Earlier, Sabalenka, reunited with coach Dmitry Tursunov here in Doha, also made it to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Greece’s Maria Sakkari. An impressive score line given her opponent and the swirling conditions prevalent on court.

Belinda Bencic also qualified for the quarter-finals with the No.4 seed overcoming Yulia Putintseva, 6-4, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Barty and Kuznetsova walked their way into the last eight as their opponents pulled out on account of sickness. 

Elena Rybakina, who was to be Barty’s opponent, withdrew with an abductor injury while Kuznetsova of Russia walked her way into the last eight as Amanda Anisimova of USA pulled out. 

Anisimova withdrew due to illness as a result Kuznetsova got the walkover win and will face either Belinda Bencic of Switerland or Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

“I’m really upset to be withdrawing from Doha, I did everything I could to be ready to play but I’m really not feeling well. I hope I can come back stronger next year,” Anisimova said.

Barty takes on the winner of the match between Garbiñe Muguruza and Dayana Yastremska.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova also struggled to gain mastery over the windy conditions and she was stretched to the limit in a fighting 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 win over Jelena Ostapenko in an encounter that lasted exactly two hours. 

“The wind was very, very difficult today and it was irritating all around the court. So it was tough to serve as well, but luckily I made some good things in the beginning of the third set and found a way in the first one as well,” Kvitova said.

Kvitova had been taken the distance in her second-round outing with Carla Suárez Navarro and would have hoped that after taking the first set courtesy of winning six successive games she would not be so extended once more. Ostapenko, though, found her range to force a decider, which was comprehensively claimed by the higher-ranked player.

Kvitova’s next match will be against in-form Ons Jabeur.

The rising Tunisian star,  Jabeur scored the biggest win of her breakthrough 2020 season  knocking out former World No.1 and 2017 champion Karolina Pliskova in three gruelling sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to book her spot in the quarter-finals.