(Tennis news) Jelena Ostapenko survived a matchpoint scare in her quarterfinal match against Petra Kvitova at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship. Ostapenko had beaten Sofia Kenin, Iga Swiatek in the previous rounds and had to spend almost 3 hours against Kvitova. The Latvian had a match winning start by taking a 4-1 lead and was only a point away from serving the set until the 31 year old swung the momentum back to her favour as her service returns steered her comeback.

In the second set, the Czech player took a 4-2 lead and was two points away from winning the match at 5-4 but Ostapenko went out of her way to get back into the match. The 24 year old was again a game away from losing the match but sabotaged the serves to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreak, the youngster had three match points in which one went down due to a forehand return which made her look at Kvitova in disbelief. The former world number 2 also had a match point but an almost perfect backhand denied her the opportunity and a forehand down the line gave the world number 21 a semifinal matchup against Simona Halep. Ostapenko will be facing a former Grand Slam winner for the fourth consecutive match as she looks to stay for 2 more days at Dubai. Ostapenko defeated Kvitova 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(11-9).

For the third time in her career, Veronika Kudermetova made the last four at a WTA 500 event. Kudermetova had beaten Victoria Azarenka and defending champion Garbine Muguruza in the last two matches. The Russian was facing Jil Teichmann for the third time and had a 2-0 record against her with the previous 2 matches going till the decider. This time again it was Kudermetova who kept the record intact with the blend of strong strokes at the baseline and delicate touches at the net. Teichmann did win points from a losing cause as her reflexes off her forehand and backhand put pressure onto her opponent. Kudermetova defeated Teichmann 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.

Marketa Vondrousova is only a win away from becoming the first qualifier to reach the championship match in the event. Vondrousova had a powerful start to every game in the opening set but somehow could not play to the extent of winning the game as Dayana Yastremska took a 5-3 lead. The 22 year old put up a clutch performance to turn around the match and take the first set. In the second set, the world number 38 could troubleshoot and resolve the issues from the set as the Ukrainian was put to the test. A couple of dropshots did give Vondrousova the advantage in the set and her defence too was a level higher later in the match. Vondrousova defeated Yastremska 7-5, 6-4.

Also read: Yastrameska and Kvitova take out top seeds at Dubai