Mboko shocks Rybakina; Sakkari ends Swiatek's run

Doha [Qatar], February 13: Canadian teen Victoria Mboko continued her remarkable run here as she toppled Australian Open champion and second-seeded Elena Rybakina in three sets to reach the 2026 Qatar TotalEnergies Open semi-final at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex on Thursday.
Mboko rallied from being a set down to defeat Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) to reach her first WTA 1000 semi-final.
Earlier on the centre court, Greek Maria Sakkari rolled back the years as she clawed her way to a nervy 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over top seed Iga Swiatek.
For Mboko it was a big climb as she prevailed over Rybakina after the latter had saved three match points. The win not only moves Mboko into the last four but should also see her move into the top ten of WTA rankings.
In the round of 16, Mboko had defeated 5th seed Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5), saving a match point in a high-stakes battle of teenagers.
Entering the tournament with a career-high ranking of 13th, this win follows her 2025 campaign where she won her first 1000-level title at the National Bank Open in Montreal.
"Going into the match I knew I would have to put up a really big fight. She'd just won the Australian Open, I've previously played her three times, so I think I knew what to expect," said Mboko of her battle with Rybakina.
"I feel like we both had our ups and downs in the match. Both of us maybe not starting so great. I think when you're not feeling your best and just getting it through, I think it feels good in a way when you're able to pull it through," she added.
In the semi-final, Mboko will meet Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, who accounted for Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto 7-4, 6-4.
Sakkari was all smiles after conquering Swiatek, who was bidding for her fourth crown in Doha.
"It's been a while since I had a big win like today," said the 30-year-old Greek, who reached No. 3 in the rankings in 2022 but has slipped to 52nd.
"When you drop in the rankings and you're not playing good tennis you start doubting yourself and you think you are never going to beat those players again. So it's a huge process you have to go trough in your head that you can do it."
Sakkari won her first three career meetings with the young Swiatek but the last of those victories came in 2021. The Pole had won their last four matches, the most recent in straight sets in Qatar last year.
"Last year here in the second round here against her, I was not confident, I was not believing in myself and this year it's different. I feel a lot better," said Sakkari.
Swiatek, who won the Qatar tournament, a WTA 1000 event, in 2022, 2023 and 2024, started as if she would repeat last year's rout when she broke twice in the first set.
Sakkari began to fight back in the last game, but Swiatek saved a break point to seal the set.
Sakkari continued her upswing by breaking in the second game of the second set.
Yet every time she gained an edge, Swiatek responded. The Pole broke in the seventh game, but Sakkari steadied and broke in the tenth game to take the set.
It was the first time in their seven meetings that a match between the pair had gone to a third set.
In the deciding set, Sakkari broke in the fourth game. Swiatek broke back at once only for Sakkari to break again immediately.
In the seventh game Sakkari saved two break points but Swiatek took a hard-fought ninth, on a third break point.
Swiatek saved a match point in the next game but Sakkari then held to love, and won in the next game, on her third match point, when The Pole volleyed tamely into the net.
The match lasted one minute under two-and-a-haf hours.
In what will be her fourth Qatar semi-final, Sakkari will face either 14th seeded Czech Karolina Muchova or undeeded Russian Anna Kalinskaya.
Source: Qatar Tribune