Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships quarterfinal preview

Thursday will be the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships WTA1000 quarterfinal round. Four Grand Slam champions made it to the final eight. The top half of the draw has two exciting matches between World No. 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek and Australian Open finalist Qinwen Zheng, and World No. 3 and 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff and Anna Kalinskaya.

Swiatek owns a 5-0 career head-to-head record over Zheng. Those five matches occurred from May 2022 through January 2024. The most recent victory for Swiatek was a straight set win at the United Cup. Three of the five matches have gone three sets. Zheng won a tiebreaker over Swiatek on clay at the 2022 French Open.

Coco Gauff and Anna Kalinskaya have never faced each other. Kalinskaya came through the qualifying rounds and has spent significantly more time (6 hours 25 minutes to 3 hours 34 minutes) on the court through five total matches than Gauff has because she had a first-round bye and played just two matches. Kalinskaya defeated Jelena Ostapenko in the Round of 16 in straight sets to earn her quarterfinal spot.

Two recent Wimbledon Champions in the bottom half of the draw

World No. 4 and 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina will face Jasmine Paolini for the third time in her career. Each has won one previous meeting with Rybakina retiring in Cincinnati at the Western & Southern Open. Paolini's path to the quarterfinals has been very impressive with wins over Beatriz Haddad Maia, Leylah Fernandez, and Maria Sakkari.

World No. 8 and 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova will play Romanian Sorana Cirstea who defeated American Sofia Kenin and Croatian Donna Vekic en route to the quarterfinals. Cirstea has a 2-1 career record over Vondrousva with her most recent win in straight sets at the 2023 Miami Open.

Thursday's matches begin at 5:00 AM EST and will air live on the Tennis Channel.

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