MINSK, 25 February (BelTA) – Belarus' world number 2 Aryna Sabalenka lost to Poland's world number 8 Iga Swiatek 2-6, 3-6 in the Qatar Open quarterfinal, BelTA has learned.
The Polish will next play Greece's world number 6 Maria Sakkari. In the round of Last 16 Aryna Sabalenka dismissed Switzerland's world number 41 Jil Teichmann 6-2, 6-1 in just over an hour. Earlier, the Belarusian beat France's world number 37 Alize Cornet, 6-2, 6-2, to move to the Qatar Open round three.
Belarus' world number 61 Aliaksandra Sasnovich eased past China's world number 66 Zhang Shuai, 6-1, 6-1 in the opener, and then lost to Tunisia's world number 10 Ons Jabeur, 6-1, 5-7, 4-6. Aliaksandra Sasnovich had to go through qualifying to reach the main draw. She first saw off Romania's world number 101 Ana Bogdan, 6-1, 6-1, and then beat world's number 324 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, 6-3, 6-2. In the doubles' opener Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk saw off Romania's Irina Bara and Slovakia's Kristina Kucova 7-6 (7-3), 6-2. The Belarusian-Ukrainian duo then lost 0-6, 4-6 to Belgium-Russia tandem Elise Mertens and Veronika Kudermetova.
Former world number one Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, currently ranked 16, did not play world number 60 Madison Brengle of the United States in the second round due to an injury. The Belarusian saw off Kazakhstan's world number 42 Yulia Putintseva, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, in the opening round.
