Tennis: Barty beaten, Kvitova-Sabalenka final in Doha

Czech Petra Kvitova, World No.1 winner Ashleigh Barty 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 Friday in the semifinals of the Doha tournament, will face Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who qualified earlier in the afternoon, in the final -midday.

After the Australian Open, it was another failure at the gates of the final for Ashleigh Barty. Kvitova holds her revenge on the Australian, who had eliminated her in the quarterfinals of the first Grand Slam of the year.

The Czech, world N.11, has not played a final since her title in Stuttgart in April 2019.

She will face Aryna Sabalenka (13th in the world) on Saturday in the final, who had less difficulty defeating Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova (6-4, 6-3).

Sabalenka built its success by its power on the first and second balls to get rid, in a little more than an hour (1h13), of the former world N.2 Kuznetsova and double winner of the Grand Slam (Roland-Garros in 2009 and the US Open in 2004), which has now fallen to 46th in the world.

This is the first final in 2020 for the Belarusian, who won five titles last year.

Kvitova and Sabalenka have faced each other three times, the last in Sydney in January 2019. An easy victory in the first round of the Czech (6-1, 7-5), who finally won the tournament.