QOC
Tennis star and top seed Simona Halep of Romania on Wednesday beat Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine to reach the quarter-finals of the Qatar Total Open.
Halep won 6-2, 6-3 win in just 1 hour 19 minutes. The victory also ensured that Halep, 27, will rise to number two when the new world rankings are released on Monday.
The third day of the tournament was attended by HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee.
In the quarter-finals, Halep will meet Germany's Julia Goerges who on Wednesday beat American Alison Riske 6-1, 6-7, 6-4.
Earlier on Wednesday, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine beat Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in straight sets to reach the last eight of the tournament. Svitolina, who got a wild card for the six-day tournament, won 6-4, 6-4.
Svitolina will meet qualifier Karolina Muchova of Russia in the quarter-finals. Muchova on Wednesday beat Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei 6-2, 6-4.
In another match, Elise Mertens of Belgium beat lucky loser Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 7-6 in 1 hour and 47 minutes.
Also on Wednesday, Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands beat former champion Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. Bertens won 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in 84 minutes on Court Number 1. Bertens will meet Mertens in quarter-finals on Thursday.
Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic beat qualifier Anna Blinkova of Russia 6-0, 3-6, 6-0 in 1 hour 54 minutes. Strycova fired two aces in her fighting win.
In the last match of the day, No.3 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany beat Estonia's Anett Kontaveit. Kerber won 6-1, 7-6. Kerber will meet Strycova in the quarter-finals.