Australian top seed Ashleigh Barty has advanced to the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open via a walkover after her opponent Elena Rybakina withdrew due to a leg injury.
Barty will face 11th seed Garbine Muguruza after the Spaniard swept aside unseeded Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska 6-2 6-4 in 70 minutes in the night session's final match.
The last eight contest will be the fourth between Barty and Muguruza with the Aussie enjoying a 2-1 record, although Muguruza was victorious in their last meeting in 2019 at the Hopman Cup.
"I think it's great for me to be able to play the World No.1," Muguruza said of her upcoming clash with Barty during her on-court interview.
"I'm excited, it's going to be a good match, that's the matches that I'm looking for and that means that I'm still here and I'm still in the quarter-finals."
Former champion Petra Kvitova needed all her experience to beat Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 5-7 6-1.
The Czech eighth seed, who won the Qatar title in 2018, served nine aces but made an equal number of double faults, while former French Open champion Ostapenko also struggled in the windy conditions, with 11 double faults of her own.
The Latvian also made 32 unforced errors, and hit 11 fewer winners than Kvitova, which sealed her fate.
Kvitova will face Ons Jabeur in the last eight after the 25-year-old Tunisian enjoyed a 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over third seed Karolina Pliskova.
Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova also advanced via a walkover after her American opponent Amanda Anisimova withdrew due to illness.
Kuznetsova will next face Swiss world No.9 Belinda Bencic, who beat Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva 6-4 6-3, while Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka lost just three games as she beat Greece's Maria Sakkari 6-3 6-0.
Australian Associated Press
