On February 9, the quarterfinal matches took place there. And there are many reasons to rejoice here.
The first ticket to the semi-finals was won by Lyudmila Samsonova, who found herself in excellent form. The 15th racket in the world started the year with a failure at the Australian Open. The year started horribly for the Russian: three defeats in three matches. But in Abu Dhabi, Lyudmila picked up the pace. In the first two rounds, the Russian beat the Ukrainians Lesya Tsurenko and Angelina Kalinina. Additionally, in four sets, Samsonova only allowed five games.
And in the quarterfinals, Lyudmila also confidently faced the 12th world racket from the Czech Republic, Barbora Krejcikova. Moreover, the Czech started 2024 in style, reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. There she lost to future champion Aryna Sabalenka. In Abu Dhabi, Krejcikova’s journey was very simple. She spent the first round without rest and in the second she played only one set with Sara Sorribes-Tormo, who played in the second match (6:2, 1:0).
Samsonova and Krejcikova looked confident – 7:5, 6:4, even though they had to spend 1 hour and 44 minutes on the court.
Samsonova now awaits a match with Elena Rybakina, who is trying to rehabilitate after her failure at the Australian Open. In Abu Dhabi, the representative of Kazakhstan passed the first round without a result, then suffered with Danielle Collins (4:6, 6:3, 6:3), and in the quarterfinals she confidently beat the lucky Spanish loser Kristina Buksha – 6: 1, 6: 4.
Wild Brazilian waits for Kasatkina
It seemed that the quarterfinals would not be easy for Daria Kasatkina. Romanian Sorana Cirstea in Abu Dhabi has already defeated Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia and Greek Maria Sakkari, who received the third seed. But Dasha passed this test with surprising confidence.
The first Russian racket played 1 hour and 15 minutes, giving only two games to his opponent – 6:2, 6:0. In this match, the Russian won 11 consecutive matches. Very impressive!
It is now the Brazilian Beatrice Addad-Maia who is heading towards the possible Russian final. In the quarter-finals, she faced the Tunisian representative Ons Jabeur without any problem. So far, things aren’t going well for Jabeur, the No. 2 seed in 2024. At the Australian Open, she lost painfully to Mirra Andreeva, and after the Grand Slam tournament, she doesn’t is more impressive.
The semi-finals in Abu Dhabi will take place today, February 10. At 14:00, Kasatkina and Addad-Maya will play, and at 16:00 – Rybakina and Samsonova.
Anton Mozgovoy, Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
