Pavlyuchenkova, Rybakina to square off in Doha semifinals

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova booked a spot in the semifinals of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open on Thursday by winning an all-unseeded quarterfinal match against Danielle Collins, 7-5, 6-4 — which earns the former World No.11 her first hard-court semifinal berth at a WTA 1000 in 14 years. 

Pavlyuchenkova, competing in her first quarterfinal in Doha after falling in the Round of 16 twice, is through to her four career WTA 1000 semifinal, and her first on any surface since the 2021 Mutua Madrid Open — but she last achieved the feat on hard courts as a 19-year-old at the 2010 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Her breakthrough on the Hologic WTA Tour came a year prior, when at 17, she reached the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Open.

The World No.32 needed 1 hour and 34 minutes to see off former World No.7 Collins, a qualifier this week, and she regrouped after losing a 5-2 lead to start the opener. Though Pavlyuchenkova hit fewer winners than Collins (17 to 24), she also hit fewer unforced errors (14 to 20) and went a perfect 4-for-4 on break points to score her first win in four career meetings against the American.

For a spot in her first WTA 1000 final, Pavlyuchenkova will face No.3 seed Elena Rybakina, who came from 4-2 down in the first set to defeat 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2.

More to come…