Doha [Qatar], February 16 : The No.1 seed and two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek progressed to the final in the Qatar Open after Karolina Pliskova withdrew from their semifinal match due to a lower back injury on Friday.
With this walkover, the fifth edition of Swiatek's rivalry with Elena Rybakina will take place in the final on Saturday.
Rybakina joined the Polish player after beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-4 to reach her third final of 2024.
"Sorry for the tournament that I had to withdraw from, but unfortunately I had too many matches in last couple of days, and my body just didn't react well, especially after last night having a tough match against Naomi," Pliskova said as quoted by WTA.
"I felt like I was pushing it a little bit over limit, and then I felt very big pain in my lower back, so I'm not able to compete anymore," he added.
Swiatek will enter Saturday's final in Doha on an 11-match winning streak, having won her previous 21 sets in the tournament. Her overall win-loss record at the event is 12-1, with her only defeat coming in the 2020 second round to Svetlana Kuznetsova. The World No.1 hopes to become the first woman to win three consecutive titles at a single Hologic WTA Tour event since Serena Williams did so at the Miami Open from 2013 to 2015.
Meanwhile, Rybakina dominated the match, winning 6-2, 5-1. A string of sweetly struck backhand winners allowed her to break Pavlyuchenkova twice in the first set and again at the start of the second; she tightened her grip on the match after surviving a nine-deuce service game, saving five break points, to go up 3-1.
Pavlyuchenkova discovered some of her best winners at the last minute. The 32-year-old rallied from a 5-1 deficit to win three straight games, even holding a break point to tie the game at 5-5. But Rybakina fended it off with a powerful crosscourt forehand, and moments later sealed the victory with her third ace of the day.
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