Elina Svitolina’s frustration knew no bounds yesterday as the third seed crashed out of the Qatar Total Open, once again falling to the guile of 16th seed Petra Kvitova.
Svitolina was up against a player who had been her nemesis. She had lost six straight times to Kvitova coming into last night’s third round match.
At the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, the two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova made it seven in a row over Svitolina as the Czech booked her spot in the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-5 win. 
Svitolina’s exit followed that of Karolina Pliskova’s, after the defending champion and World No. 5 was knocked out by qualifier Catherine Bellis, who continued her impressive run with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win.
While Halep shook off a slow start to survive tricky Latvian Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 6-3, Caroline Wozniacki was left annoyed and mocked qualifier Monica Niculescu for her grunting, before closing out the match 7-5, 6-1.
But the match of high quality came on Court 1, despite Svitolina’s poor record against Kvitova, which stands at 1-7. Svitolina has won the most titles on the WTA Tour since last year, while Kvitova was on a nine-match winning streak after winning in St. Petersburg the week before, followed by two Fed Cup win in the weekend for Czech Republic. Not to mention her brave comeback from the horrific knife attack in December 2016, which injured her left hand.
After trading breaks in the first two games, it was a battle between Svitolina’s defence  and Kvitova’s aggressive attacking play. In the key moments though, Kvitova stood out, using her deft touch to outsmart her opponent. 
In both the sets, the 27-year-old broke Svitolina’s last service game, which proved costly for the latter. Kvitova has never advanced further than the last eight in Doha and today she will be keen to improve on that as she faces ninth seed Julia Georges. The ace-serving German scored a routine 6-2, 6-2 win over Mihaela Buzarnescu, who had shocked sixth seed French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia on Wednesday.
Earlier, Bellis claimed the biggest win of her career after taking down Pliskova. Bellis broke the defending champions five times en route to her first Top 5 win of her fledgling career. “This was huge for me,” said the 18-year-old Bellis, who will be up against 2014 champion Halep. “I think I played a really good match and just tried to track down as many balls as I could. Obviously, I’ve watched her play for many years and she’s one of my idols for sure. I’m just really happy I was able to get through it,” the American added. 
With Halep’s win yesterday, her hopes of snatching the No.1 ranking from Wozniacki is alive. Should the Romanian finish the tournament with one win more than the Dane, she will reclaim the top spot she lost after the Australian Open.
“I don’t have any idea about the points,” Halep said. “I know that there is like 300, or it was at the beginning of the tournament. But I’m not thinking about that. I just want to play my matches and to win them.”
Meanwhile, fourth seed Garbine Muguruza had few problems in getting past Sorana Cirstea 6-0, 6-4 in the third round match that kicked off the proceedings yesterday. “I think I played very well in the first set, and in the second set she came out much better, reached a high level, I made a few mistakes, and there we go, the match is equal,” Muguruza said. 
The Spaniard will face No.7 seed Caroline Garcia today for a place in the last four.
Frenchwoman Garcia ended the run of teenage qualifier Anna Blinkova 7-6(3), 7-5. 
 
Results
Singles (3rd Round)

1-Caroline Wozniacki bt Q-Monica Niculescu 7-5, 6-1
2-Simona Halep bt 13-Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 6-4, 6-3
4-Garbine Muguruza (ESP) bt Sorana Cirstea (ROU) 6-0, 6-4
Q-Catherine Bellis (USA) bt 5-Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 7-6 (4), 6-3
16-Petra Kvitova (CZE) bt 3-Elina Svitolina (UKR) 6-4, 7-5
7-Caroline Garcia (FRA) bt Q-Anna Blinkova (RUS) 7-6 (3), 7-5
8-Angelique Kerber (GER x8) bt 10-Johanna Konta (GBR x10) 1-6, 6-1, 6-3
9-Julia Georges (GER) bt Mihaela Buzarnescu (ROU) 6-2, 6-2

Today’s Order of Play
Singles Quarter-finals

Centre Court   (Starts 3:30 pm)          
7-Caroline Garcia (FRA) vs 4-Garbine Muguruza (ESP)
Followed By: Q-Catherine Bellis (USA) vs 2-Simona Halep (ROU)
Followed By: 1-Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) vs 8-Angelique Kerber

Not before 8pm           
16-Petra Kvitova (CZE) vs 9-Julia Goerges (GER)




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