Two of the top three seeds crashed out of the WTA Qatar Open in the round of 16 as Barbora Krejcikova and Paula Badosa both lost, though top seed Aryna Sabalenka is through to the quarter-finals, along with Coco Gauff.
Sabalenka eased past Jil Teichmann 6-2 6-1 in Doha, winning an impressive 70 per cent of her second serves as she rarely gave her Swiss opponent any hope in a match that lasted just over an hour.
The Belarusian will now play Iga Swiatek in the last eight after the seventh seed beat Daria Kasatkina 6-3 6-0.
Number two seed Krejcikova was eliminated by the winner in Dubai last week, Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3 6-2. The Czech struggled to get going and ended the match with seven double faults to her name.
World number four Badosa fared no better as she also lost in straight sets to Gauff 6-2 6-3, with the 17-year-old winning a dominant 77.1 per cent of points on her first serve.
Badosa is the joint-highest ranked player that Gauff has defeated, along with Naomi Osaka, who was also ranked fourth in the world when she lost to the teenager at the 2020 Australian Open.
Gauff will now face Maria Sakkari after the Greek defeated another American, Jessica Pegula.
Ostapenko will go up against reigning WTA Finals champion Garbine Muguruza who convincingly defeated Madison Brengle 6-0 6-2.
Number four seed and St Petersburg champion Anett Kontaveit is through after a topsy-turvy clash with Elise Mertens 6-3 0-6 6-2 and will come up against Tunisia's Ons Jabeur.
Coco Gauff reaches French Open quarter-finals for a third successive year
Coco Gauff reached the French Open quarter-finals for the third successive year with a straight-sets victory over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
The 19-year-old American failed to serve out the opening set at the first time of asking but was otherwise convincing in a 7-5 6-2 victory on Suzanne Lenglen.
Gauff could face a rematch of last year’s final against world number one Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals.
Seventh seed Ons Jabeur eased into the last eight with a 6-3 6-1 victory over American Bernarda Pera.
The Tunisian, who reached the final at both Wimbledon and the US Open last year, has struggled with injury in 2023 but is through to the quarter-finals here for the first time.
“It was the only grand slam missing,” said Jabeur. “I’m very happy with the performance, with the way I was, playing, especially coming back after an injury.
“I was just taking it one match at a time, trying to make it to the second week. Now I’m going to push more for the next few matches.”
In the last eight she will meet Beatriz Haddad Maia, who needed a mammoth three hours and 51 minutes to get past Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-7 (3) 6-3 7-5.
It was the longest women’s match of the year and the longest at Roland Garros since 1995, with Haddad Maia becoming the first Brazilian to reach the women’s singles quarter-finals since Maria Bueno 55 years ago.
“All the matches that I play I prepare myself for the toughest moments,” said the 14th seed. “So I know that Sara will bring the balls. She defends very well. I knew that the ball was coming again.
“I had to be aggressive. So I was prepared for that. I was trying to be as aggressive as I could to finish the point, to go to the net. I work very hard on my body, as well, so I believe in myself when we have tough moments.”
Andy Murray determined to show he remains among the elite on grass courts
Andy Murray believes he remains among the elite grass-court players after he began his Wimbledon preparations with a comfortable victory over Chung Hyeon in the first round of the Surbiton Trophy.
Less than seven miles separate the Surbiton Racket and Fitness club and the courts of SW19 and Murray’s journey started with a 6-3 6-2 win as he attempts to be seeded in the men’s single draw next month.
The two-time Wimbledon champion skipped the French Open to focus on his grass season and this was his first match in preparation for the All England Club, where the championships get under way on July 3.
The 36-year-old is ranked 43rd and needs to climb around 10 places to be seeded for Wimbledon where Murray believes he will remain a difficult opponent for anyone.
Asked if he is in the top 10 players in the world on his favourite grass surface, Murray replied: “Yes, I think so.
“It is hard to put numbers on it like that but yes, I would fancy myself against a lot of them.
“Last year I won against (Nick) Kyrgios who made the final of Wimbledon, I won against (Stefanos) Tsitsipas – it is probably not his favourite surface but he is one of the best players in the world.
“I was a set all with (Matteo) Berrettini – who is quite clearly in the top few grass-court players – in the final of Stuttgart before I hurt my abs.
“I’m playing better this year than I was last year but it is kind of irrelevant if you say that you have to perform and win the matches on the court and it is up to me to show that in the next four or five weeks.”
That five-week push to Wimbledon began against Chung, with Murray hitting his stride early on to ease past the South Korean, whose own injury issues have limited his progress in recent years.
There were also signs of the vintage Murray – arguing more than one line call with the umpire and chuntering away to himself when missing shots he felt should have landed.
A brief collective holding of breath from the small crowd followed Murray taking a tumble over an advertising board at the start of the second set but he dusted himself off to finish the job at hand before insisting he cannot start thinking about what is required to be seeded at Wimbledon and instead needs to remain focused on his game.
“I still want to win, I want to compete and see how hard I can push my body,” added Murray, who made the semi-finals in Surbiton last year.
“The operations I had, I was told I might be able to play again so I just want to see how far I can go.
“I’ve got up to 41 in the world and I believe I can go higher than that. Obviously I did well here (Surbiton) and in Stuttgart last year and I think I need about 300 points (to be seeded) so I will have to do well the next few weeks if I want to do that.
“If I have a good tournament at Queen’s, if you make the final or win the tournament there then I would be seeded, but I need to just concentrate on the performances.
“If you starting just thinking about points it is not necessarily the best way to look at things. I will just try and win as many matches as possible and see if I can get in there.”
Andy Murray eases to victory over Chung Hyeon in Surbiton Trophy first round
Andy Murray’s bid to be seeded for the men’s singles draw at Wimbledon began with a convincing victory over Chung Hyeon in the first round of the low-key Surbiton Trophy.
Less than seven miles separate the Surbiton Racket and Fitness Club and the courts of SW19 but Murray’s journey has started with a 6-3 6-2 victory in the sunshine.
The two-time Wimbledon champion skipped the French Open to focus on his grass season and this was his first match in preparation for next month.
Murray, 36, is currently ranked 43rd and needs to climb around 10 places to be seeded for Wimbledon, looking to build on his clay-court victory at Aix-en-Provence Challenger earlier this year – his first title since 2019.
The Surbiton Trophy is another Challenger event and gave Murray a chance to get into his stride against his South Korean opponent.
Chung reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2018, beating Novak Djokovic en route, but has struggled with his own fitness issues in recent years.
A fine ace in the third game was the first glimpse of Murray ratcheting up through the gears and his first break followed a game later.
The gulf between the pair began to show as the opening set progressed, Murray taking it 6-3 with his fifth ace.
There were also signs of the vintage Murray – arguing more than one line call with the umpire and chuntering away to himself when missing shots he felt should have landed.
A brief collective holding of breath from the small crowd followed Murray taking a tumble over an advertising board at the start of the second set but he dusted himself off to take the game on his fourth break point courtesy of a double-fault from Chung.
Largely untroubled on his own serve, Murray – a semi-finalist in Surbiton 12 months ago – broke for a second time in the seventh game and wrapped up a comfortable win.
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