Taiwanese-Czech duo Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova on Tuesday cruised into the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Qatar Open, while the Chan sisters’ bid to get their season up and running suffered another blow as they had to pull out of their second-round match.
Top seeds Hsieh and Strycova took just 59 minutes to see off unseeded Ukrainian twins Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok 6-2, 6-2 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha.
The victors in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday saved the only break point they faced and converted four of nine, winning 81 percent of points on their first serve to advance to a quarter-final against Swiss-American pairing Belinda Bencic and Sofia Kenin, who defeated Chinese duo Han Xinyun and Peng Shuai 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 in 1 hour, 24 minutes.
The top seeds are eyeing their third title of the season after also winning in Brisbane, Australia, last month.
A disappointing start to the season for Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan continued when the seventh seeds had to pull out of their second-round clash against Cagla Buyukakcay of Turkey and Laura Siegemund of Germany.
In the singles, Kenin suffered her third defeat since winning the Australian Open earlier this month, losing to Ukrainian youngster Dayana Yastremska in the second round, while world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty cruised to victory.
World No. 5 Kenin, who defeated Garbine Muguruza to claim her maiden Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne, went down 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to Yastremska.
“It’s really frustrating,” the 21-year-old told the WTA Web site. “Obviously, coming off of Melbourne, where I felt I was playing the best tennis of my life, coming down to playing, not the worst tennis, but not playing the tennis I want to be playing.”
Yastremska was to face Muguruza in the third round after the Spaniard made short work of Australian Ajla Tomljanovic, winning 6-1, 6-2.
“Creds to her, she played well, came up with some good shots at those important moments,” Kenin said of Yastremska, who has already won three WTA Tour titles. “She just played better at important moments and I just made too many unforced errors, I just felt pretty flat-footed the whole match.”
Barty strolled past Siegemund in her first match since losing in the Australian Open semi-finals to Kenin.
The reigning French Open champion saw off the German 6-3, 6-2.
“Happy overall to be able to switch on when I really needed to,” Barty said. “Disappointing to have a few lapses in concentration, but also a credit to my opponent, she came up with some really good stuff in runs to be able to break me a few times.”
The Australian was due to face Elena Rybakina, who has already reached four WTA Tour finals this season and beat Alison van Uytvanck 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (10/8).
The 20-year-old, who lost to Simona Halep in the Dubai singles final on Saturday last week, needed five match points to get past the Belgian, and also saved one herself in the marathon third-set tiebreak.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova also booked a place in the round-of-16 with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.
The Czech was to face former Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko for a quarter-final spot after the Latvian’s 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Strycova.
World No. 3 Karolina Pliskova also secured her berth with comfort, beating American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-0.
Pliskova was due to take on Australian Open quarter-finalist Ons Jabeur after the Tunisian brushed aside Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3.
Last year’s winner Elise Mertens saw her title defense come to an end with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Yulia Putintseva.
Putintseva was due to face fourth seed Bencic after the Swiss battled past Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4).
Belarusian ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka also progressed, beating Anett Kontaveit 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
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