Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin came back from a match point down to beat Yulia Putintseva and reach the quarter-finals of the Abu Dhabi Open.
The American Kenin posted 57 unforced errors, 14 more than her rival, but still prevailed 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 over the 13th-seeded Kazakh.
“I felt like today was more of a mental match. I practice with her quite a lot so I know her game well,” Kenin said.
“I’m just happy with the way that I fought even though I wasn’t feeling 100% on court.”
Kenin dropped the opening set for the second consecutive match in Abu Dhabi and Putintseva was on the verge of winning, having match point when serving at 6-5 up in the second set.
Yet Kenin rescued the point and broke Putintseva’s serve to take the set to a tiebreak.
Next up is a quarter-final with ninth seed Maria Sakkari, who beat former French Open and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 7-5 6-4, posting 33 winners compared to just five from the more defensive Spaniard.
Kenin has won her two previous matches against Sakkari, both in three sets in 2018.
Elina Svitolina also saved two match points in her final-set tiebreak before going on to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (10-8) for a place in the quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Ukrainian faces another Russian, Veronika Kudermetova, in the next round.
“I was just trying to be focused on every point and not let this match take away the good tennis that I played in the first set,” Svitolina said.
Aryna Sabalenka recorded her 12th consecutive win in tour matches with a 6-2 6-4 win over Ons Jabeur.
The fourth-seeded Sabalenka earned a measure of revenge for her defeat to Jabeur in their only previous match in the third round of the French Open in October.
“I didn’t give her any time to play, to make her trick shots,” Sabalenka said. “At Roland Garros, the courts were really slow and she had time and it was really tricky tennis. I think this was the key to today’s win.”
Sabalenka has won every match she’s played since the loss to Jabeur at Roland Garros, and finished last season with titles at the indoor Ostrava and Linz tournaments.
The win over Jabeur sets up a quarterfinal match against sixth-seeded Elena Rybakina, who beat Daria Kasatkina 6-3 6-4.
