Yastremska stuns Kenin, Barty & Bencic through at Qatar Open 2020

After Petra Kvitova and Aryna Sabalenka advanced in Doha, more seeded players fought for their place in the next round at the 2020 Qatar Open. Among those were Sofia Kenin, Elise Mertens, Belinda Bencic and Ashleigh Barty.

However, not all of the players were successful. The first surprise of the night was the 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin. The American faced Dayana Yastremska in the second round of the Qatar Open. The Ukrainian added her 2nd victory in Qatar, defeating Kenin 6-3, 7-6 and extended the streak of world number 5 to three lost games in a row.

Yulia Putintseva created another surprise in Doha with a comeback against the 16th seeded Elise Mertens. The Belgian had a good start into the match; winning the first set 6-4. However, Putintseva dominated the rest of the match by winning the second set 6-3 and the third 6-2 to book her spot in the next round.

However, Belinda Bencic and Ashleigh Barty were there to show the quality of seeded players in Doha. The fourth-seeded Bencic faced Veronika Kudermetova. Players battled for almost 3 hours and the Swiss came as the winner in the end with 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 victory.

World number 1, Ashleigh Barty produced a very dominant victory in her debut at the Qatar Open. The Aussie faced qualifier from Germany, Laura Siegemund. Barty added the 10th win of the season and advanced into the next round in Qatar. The Aussie defeated Siegemund 6-3, 6-2 in just 74 minutes.