There are four dream quarterfinals in Doha, Qatar this week, as the eight quarterfinalists left in the WTA 1000 series tournament have all reached the grand slam final in the past. The matchups have Iga Swiatek of Poland versus Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, Danielle Collins of the United States versus Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, Leylah Annie Fernandez of Canada versus Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, and Naomi Osaka of Japan versus Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. It is also interesting that eight different countries are represented in the quarterfinals too.
Of the eight are four grand slam champions. Swiatek is a four-time grand slam singles champion, as she won the 2020, 2022, and 2023 French Open, and 2022 United States Open. Azarenka is a two-time Australian Open champion, as she won in 2012 and 2013. Rybakina won Wimbledon in 2022, and like Swiatek, Osaka is a four-time grand slam champion. She won the 2018 United States Open, the 2019 Australian Open, the 2020 United States Open and 2021 Australian Open. Collins reached the 2022 Australian Open final, Fernandez reached the 2021 United States Open final, Pavlyuchenkova reached the 2021 French Open final, and Pliskova reached the United States Open final in 2016 and the Wimbledon final in 2021.
Swiatek has won two of three meetings against Azarenka head-to-head. Azarenka won in the third round of the 2020 United States Open 6-4, 6-2, while Swiatek won in the quarterfinals of Adelaide in 2022, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, and the third round of Rome in 2022, 6-4, 6-1. This is the first meeting between Fernandez and Rybakina. Collins has beaten Pavyluchenkova thrice. Her wins came in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Australian Open (2-6, 7-5, 6-1), the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup Finals (6-7, 7-6, 6-2), and the first round of Cincinnati in 2023 (6-3, 6-1). Pliskova meanwhile is 4-2 all-time versus Osaka. The last three meetings have been in Australia, of which Pliskova have won twice.
For FREE!
