The World No.10 Aryna Sabalenka booked her place in the semi-finals of the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open with victory over Kazakh Elena Rybakina at the Zayed Sports City’s International Tennis Complex.
Joining Sabalenka in the last four stage were Maria Sakkar of Greece, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia in the championship held under the Professional Women’s Tennis Federation, and organised by Abu Dhabi Sports Council in cooperation with Mubadala, Zayed Sports City and Health Point.
Sabalenka overcame Rybakina 6-4 4-6 6-3 while Sakkar came from a set down to stun American top seed Kenin 2-6 6-2 6-0.
Kostyuk also rallied from a set down to beat Sorribes Tormo of Spain 0-6 6-1 6-and Kudermetova edged out bottom seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 5-7 6-3 7-6.
In the doubles, the American Jennifer Brady and Garbine Muguruza got the better of Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva 6-7 6-1 10-8 in the quarterfinals.
Japanese pair Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara raced past Sue-Wei Hsieh and Barbora Krejcikova 6-4 6-1 while Kenin and Australian Ajla Tomljanovic defeated Arantxa Rus and Tamara Zidansik also in straight sets 6-4 6-4.
On Wednesday, the curtain comes down of the first edition of the Abu Dhabi International Women's Tennis Championship 500 with the singles and doubles finals at the centre court of the stadium.
