Anett Kontaveit of Estonia booked a semi-final clash with the 2016 finalist Jelena Ostapenko after demolishing Arab No.1 player Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-1 in 1 hour and 11 minutes on Thursday.
Latvia’s Ostapenko, on the other hand, secured a convincing 66-minutes 6-2, 6-2 victory over Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza, the last year’s finalist, in a one-sided match on the centre court of the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha.
The Estonian entered the matchup in better form against her Tunisian opponent as Jabeur was making her way back from an injury. The first set was rather competitive despite Kontaveit proving herself better initially.
Jabeur was able to stay in the match as Kontaveit failed to convert some of her early breakpoints. She eventually did convert them later in the set, after which she finished off the set with 6-4.
The second set was a proper demolition as Kontaveit was simply on fire. She hit winners left and right, and it was too good for Jabeur, who could not hold on.
Going into the last-four match, the fast-rising Kontaveit holds a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over her Latvian counterpart, with her latest victory being a straight-set thumping of the 13th-ranked Ostapenko at the St Petersburg Open earlier in the month.