Former tennis champions Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) and Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) were eliminated in the second round of the WTA 500 Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha (Qatar) with a prize fund of 780,000 USD.
Winner in 2018 and 2021, Petra Kvitova lost to fourth-seeded Cori Coco Gauff (USA) by 0-2 (3:6, 6:7). The 18-year-old American took the first set with a single break in the eighth game, and in the second set the servers dominated and it came to a tiebreak in which the teenager triumphed.
Thus, in the quarterfinals, Cori Coco Gauff will play against the 8th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova (Russia), who eliminated Sofia Kenin (USA) by 2-0 (6:2, 7:5).
The winner of the trophy in 2012 and 2013, Victoria Azarenka was eliminated by Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) after 1-2 (6:1, 6:7, 4:6). Seventh-seeded Bencic produced a remarkable comeback from a set and 4:1 game down in the second with two break points to record her 14th win in 15 WTA Tour matches since the start of the season.
The Swiss, who in the first round gave only a game to the best Bulgarian tennis player Viktoriya Tomova, awaits the winner of the match between top-seeded and defending her title from last season, Iga Swiatek (Poland) and Daniel Collins (USA) in the quarterfinals.
