Ashlyn Krueger continues Abu Dhabi Open breakout, surges past Leylah Fernandez to reach semi-finals
Match Report
Ashlyn Krueger is into her first WTA 500 semi-final after taking down Leylah Fernandez at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open seeing off the top Canadian 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 on Thursday.
Fernandez who is seeded eighth this week hit just one ace and seven double faults in a match that took just under two and a half hours. Krueger was near faultless at times hitting eight aces including five in the opening set.
She also recovered in the second set from losing a 3-0 lead which allowed Fernandez back into the contest to take the second. Before she surged through the finale with relative ease 6-2.
She won 62.7% of her opening serve points compared to 55.5% for Fernandez. It was a third career meeting between the pair which was split and saw Fernandez win on grass at Eastbourne last year. But pivotally, it was Krueger who beat her on home soil for Fernandez at the National Bank Open last year.
Krueger now faces off against the inner of the Quarter-Final between Magda Linette and Linda Noskova. Earlier Belinda Bencic continued her epic story, she saw off Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals. Her first since returning as a mother on the main tour.
Elena Rybakina is a set up on Ons Jabeur but as of time of writing the match certainly has legs to go. After winning the opener fairly comfortably, Jabeur sits on the verge of going 4-1 up in the second which would go a long way to forcing a decider between the pair.
Rybakina is defending champion and the top seed this week but it is perhaps Krueger who could be an outsider. She has already staked her claim this year. Aside from the Australian Open, it has been Quarter-Finals every tournament since the turn of the year. She is up to a new career high and certainly thriving.
The Cinderella story continues! 💫
— wta (@WTA) February 6, 2025
Ashlyn Krueger is into her first WTA 500 semifinal, after defeating Fernandez 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. #MubadalaAbuDhabiOpen pic.twitter.com/92L1BZgNE2
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- This is just getting beyond ridiculous!! Not to mention unsportsmanlike and unfair to serious up & coming contenders.
mandoist06-02-2025 - No, writer, we were not "stunned". If you knew your business you would have been aware of her statement last weekend re: her knee and retirement. The main take-away here is that Simona went out on her own terms. She surely wanted to play again after WTA & ITIA screwed her out of her final productive seasons. Personally, I believed she was going to make this announcement when I saw the President and his family in their box seats. Good for Simone -- now she can move on to other things as she said she would.mandoist04-02-2025
- It sounds seriously absurd that in Davis Cup, (unlike Grand Slams such as the Aus Open), medical time outs off court with the medical staff are not allowed?? I mean, if this was an Aus Open match, and the same thing happened to Gurin then, he would have been able to go off court for official medical time out and make an informed decision whether to resume the match or retire. How come such conditions do not apply in Davis Cup?? I mean, there with Davis Cup, it is even more like a soccer match or basketball game in that teams are playing. And so as with those, it ought to be the case in tennis that if a player needs serious medical time out, then one of the other team mates ought to substitute and each team needs to have stand-ins or understudies in case substitution is needed which will be rare but as we can see here, this kind of circumstance fits. But even if the teams do not go down the road of subbing other team mates in, in case of a health issue like the one which played out here, at least, as in the Aus Open and other Grand Slams, there ought to be time-outs with the health professionals and at the conclusion of these time-outs, the particular decision that has been reached between them and the player needs to be taken on board by the umpire. PERIOD.
Sueiyin04-02-2025 - "If Novak did this, he would be defaulted for life. WTF." 🤣 WTF sounds like What Tennis Fury?! What Tennis Flurry??! I mean, se-rious-ly, it was actually the unfairness of the silly umpire's decision that is the issue here! Further, how come it was Gurin & his team who got disqualified? If this kind of thing happens in soccer, it would be the other guy getting the yellow or red card! Because after all, it was the Belgian who's foul it was so why then penalize the opponents for something they didn't instigate? Fouls in both basketball and soccer are read as a hinderance that has been caused by the player who INITIALLY instigated the hinderance. In this case, okay, it is tennis, but while the precise rules are different to either soccer or basketball, the same type of recognition as to whoever instigates a hinderance should apply, and in this case, it was the Belgian player.Sueiyin04-02-2025
- Medvedev talking to his form here. "Some actual deep problem." 🤣😂🤣MrAndreeva03-02-2025
- "Hopefully, the team around her will help... " Actually, the lack thereof seems to have been part of the problem(s). Another possibility is that, while dealing with legitimate surgeries, withdrawing, and otherwise passing on events, the competition has stepped-up in intensity while she was busy with traveling, photo shoots, and TV commercials.mandoist03-02-2025
- Ha-ha-ha... Translation: I'll help as long as I don't have to meet in person and endure the ongoing BS"mandoist03-02-2025
- Well said.mandoist03-02-2025
- So tennisuptodate doesn't even make this event a headline on this site? I had to find it hidden here. Not a word about Yastremska trying to ruin Alexandrova's celebration with her postgame actions?? According to WTA regulations, Yastremska has some punishment coming her way for walking-off court, blowing-off postgame rituals with the winner; including no photos, etc.mandoist03-02-2025
- "So while perhaps the big issue of having to wait for a call-up is there, so is the coaching carousel. .." Well, there you go. Emma's 'career' in one precise sentence. Sponsors bailing-out on her will follow (so far, only Porsche and Dior).mandoist02-02-2025
