(Tennis news) Day 6 of the Dubai Duty Free Championships saw 5 seeded players end their run at the event as Ons Jabeur was the only seeded player to survive. Aryna Sabalenka had reached the quarterfinals in the past two years but was beaten by 2013 winner Petra Kvitova. The top seed could not handle the serve of Kvtiova who had also reached the final three years ago and did not need much of her ferocious forehands as her service was creating chaos.

Sabalenka committed 6 double faults in the first set which completely threw her off rhythm, in next she did have a break but the score was levelled immediately. The 31 year old broke serve for the second time in the set to set sail for the next round. Kvitova defeated Sabalenka 6-4, 6-4.

Garbine Muguruza got off the right foot against Veronika Kudermetova, the defending champion managed to take a 4-2 lead in the first set as Kudermetova’s powerful groundstrokes were guided to the right corners of the court. From the second set, the Russian started taking risks even though she was behind and had strong service games which were mostly 3 shot rallies and with quick hand skills at the net it was 1 set each. 

In the final set, there was no break of serve until the final game as the defending champion extended the rallies but could not add the finishing touches. The 24 year ended a three match losing streak against the Spaniard who hit 3 double faults to end her title defence. Kudermetova defeated Muguruza 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Barbora Krejcikova had a dream debut at the event last year, she made the finals without dropping a set before losing to Muguruza. This year there was no place for the runner up after the round of 16 as she got ousted in straight sets by Dayana Yastremska. Dayana got her first victory at the event a few days ago in her third appearance and viciously attacked the ball to enter the quarterfinals. Krejcikova had trouble with deep shots into her backhand as the world number 146 consistently returned serves to the backhand baseline which worked out till the end.

In the second set, the 2nd seed had few final shots which saw her come close to taking the set. The world number 3 was out of breath to cover the court as her returns were treated severely which led to the tie breaker. In the tiebreaker, the Ukrainian started with lightwork to prevent her from levelling the score and finished the last two points with speeding inside out backhands. Dayana defeated Krejcikova 6-3, 7-6 (7-3).

Also read: Ruse secures first top 10 victory at Dubai, Azarenka exits early