Abu Dhabi Open: Elena Rybakina through as Heather Watson eliminated

Defending champion Elena Rybakina progressed to the semi-finals of the Abu Dhabi Open with a 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-4) victory against Ons Jabeur.

In a rematch of the 2022 Wimbledon final – which Rybakina won – the Kazakh broke twice to claim the opening set in under 30 minutes.

Former world number two Jabeur controlled the second set before the third went to a tie-break after Rybakina failed to convert two match points.

World number five Rybakina came from behind to win the tie-break and set up a semi-final against Swiss wildcard Belinda Bencic, who beat Marketa Vondrousova 7-5 6-3 on Thursday.

Elsewhere, eighth seed Leylah Fernandez suffered a surprise 7-5 4-6 6-2 loss to world number 51 Ashlyn Krueger, while Britain’s Heather Watson and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani were beaten by fourth seeds Zhang Shuai and Kristina Mladenovic 5-7 6-2 10-3 in the women’s doubles quarter-finals.

Shuai and Mladenovic will face another Briton – Olivia Nicholls – and her Australian partner Olivia Gadecki in the last four.

Top seeds Jelena Ostapenko and Ellen Perez eased through their quarter-final against Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez 6-4 6-4, while Vondrousova and Laura Samsonova beat Makoto Ninomiya and Ulrikke Eikeri 6-4 6-1.

Meanwhile, Australian Open champion Madison Keys has withdrawn from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships which start on 16 February because of a leg injury. She has not played since beating Aryna Sabalenka to win her first Grand Slam title last month.