Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and second-seeded Elina Svitolina have been eliminated from the WTA’s season-opening Abu Dhabi Open in the quarter-finals.

World No.4 Kenin lost to ninth-seeded Maria Sakkari 2-6 6-2 6-0, while Svitolina went down to unseeded Russian Veronika Kudermetova 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7-3).

Sakkari hit nine aces and 23 winners, to just eight winners from Kenin, and reeled off the final 10 games of the match to close it out in one hour and 23 minutes.

The Greek excited about her form going into next month’s first major of 2020 at Melbourne Park after successive wins over Garbine Muguruza and Kenin respectively.

“Beating these players this week it means a lot,” Sakkari told the press, after her quarter-final win.

“I’m playing players that I’ve never played, like (Muguruza) yesterday, so I have a better idea if I play them again.

“So in general it gives me a lot of confidence starting the year like that and I’m super happy to travel to Australia with some good matches with me.”

Sakkari will next face fourth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who won her 13th straight match by beating Elena Rybakina 6-4 4-6 6-3.

Sabalenka finished last season with titles at the Ostrava and Linz indoor tournaments and has started 2021 with four wins in Abu Dhabi.

Belarusian Sabalenka hols a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over Sakkari.

Svitolina twice came back from a break down in the deciding set, including when Kudermetova served for the match at 6-5, but trailed 3-0 in the tiebreaker and couldn’t recover.

Kudermetova will face Marta Kostyuk in the semi-finals with both players aiming for a maiden appearance in the final of a WTA event.

Kostyuk, an 18-year-old Ukrainian, lost the opening seven games of her match to Sara Sorribes Tormo before winning 0-6 6-1 6-4.

In the doubles, Kenin had more luck as she teamed with Australian Ajla Tomljanovic to defeat Tamara Zidansek and Arant Rus 6-4 6-4 and reach the last four.