Jessica Pegula booked her place in the Qatar Open quarter-finals with a straight-sets victory over Daria Kasatkina.

The world number five took an hour and 39 minutes to seal a 6-3 7-5 win against the 10th seed.

Pegula made a strong start to the season by reaching the final in Adelaide – losing out on the title to Madison Keys – but suffered a third-round exit at the Australian Open.

Nevertheless, last season’s US Open runner-up hit the ground running in Doha, defeating Elina Svitolina in straight sets in her opening match, and building on that momentum by seeing off 10th seed Kasatkina.

Next up for Pegula will be a quarter-final showdown with Ekaterina Alexandrova, who beat world number one Aryna Sabalenka earlier this week.

15 - Jessica Pegula has become the player with the most hard court WTA-1000 quarterfinals reached since 2020 (15, equalling the current World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka). Category.#QatarTotalEnergiesOpen | @QatarTennis @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/bmy7ulz6j0

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) February 12, 2025

Data Debrief: Pegula matches Sabalenka

Pegula is yet to drop a set in her opening two matches in Doha.

No player has reached more quarter-finals in WTA-1000 hard-court events than the American since 2020 (15, level with Sabalenka).