Karolina Pliskova battled past Naomi Osaka in the Qatar TotalEnergies Open quarterfinals to win her ninth consecutive match in ten days. After triumphing at the tournament in Cluj-Napoca, the Czech rushed from Romania to Doha and despite feeling stressed with her tight schedule proceeded to win four matches at this week’s WTA 1000 event.
The 59th-ranked Pliskova needed one hour and 43 minutes to beat fellow former world No.1 Osaka 7-6(6) 7-6(5) in the night match in Qatar. It’s already the second time this year that Pliskova has beaten Osaka, as the Czech was the one to defeat the new mom at her first comeback tournament, the Brisbane International in January.
While Osaka opened both sets with a break lead, Pliskova swiftly neutralized her advantage and ultimately clinched both sets in tiebreaks. In a tense second set, Osaka saved a match point at 5-4 and two more at 6-5, leading to a tiebreak that Pliskova won with her fourth match point.
Current world No.1 Iga Swiatek will be Pliskova’s opponent in the Doha semifinals. Swiatek leads their head-to-head 3-0, including two victories last season.
Pliskova is wearing the Core Premium Tank and Core Premium Skirt from the new Adidas collection.
