Previous world number one Angelique Kerber recouped from losing the main set to beat Britain’s Johanna Konta and achieve the Qatar Open quarter-finals.
Tenth seed Konta, 26, dashed into a 5-0 lead against the eighth seed and won the opening set in 37 minutes.
Be that as it may, the 30-year-old German took the following in 28 minutes and secured a restless decider in Doha to win 1 6-1 6-3.
She will play world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the last eight after the best seed beat Monica Niculescu 7-5 6-1.
Kerber won the Sydney International a month ago and achieved the Australian Open semi-finals, where she was beaten by Simona Halep.
Having lost her latest gathering with Konta on the grass at Eastbourne the previous summer, Kerber couldn’t contain the Briton in the early trades and the world number 11 changed over her 6th set point.
In any case, world number nine Kerber soon took summon, wrapping up the match in one hour 51 minutes and keeping up an unbeaten record in three matches on hard court against Konta.
“I think in the first set I needed a bit of time to find my rhythm,” Kerber said. “It’s always tough to play against Johanna, she’s such a good player so I was trying to go for it in the third set.”
Wozniacki, in the interim, conferred 18 unforced mistakes against world number 92 Niculescu and grumbled to French umpire Emmanuel Joseph amid the match about the Romanian’s snorting.
“It isn’t in the rule book that you are not allowed to grunt when the opposing player hits?” the 27-year-old Dane asked.
In a courtside interview after her victory in one hour 30 minutes, Wozniacki said of 30-year-old Niculescu, who beat Maria Sharapova in the first round, “she tries to get in your head”.
Somewhere else, unseeded 18-year-old American qualifier Catherine Bellis beat protecting champion and fifth seed Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 of every a hour and 36 minutes.
The world number 48 broke Pliskova’s effective serve five times and it was the young person’s first accomplishment against a player on the planet’s best five.
She credited piece of her prosperity down to eating frozen yogurt consistently in Doha, which “gives me a bit of energy”.
Bellis will play second seed Halep in the quarter-finals after the Romanian saw off Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-4 6-3.
Third seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine was beaten 6-4 7-5 by previous Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, seeded 16.
Left-hander Kvitova, 27, has won her previous seven gatherings with Svitolina and since a first-round annihilation to Andrea Petkovic at the Australian Open, the Czech has now won 10 successive matches.
