Jasmine Paolini was left in tears as an ankle injury hampered her in Wednesday's 6-4 6-0 defeat to Sofia Kenin, which ended her Dubai Tennis Championships title defence.

Dominating a series of long rallies from the baseline, Kenin surged into a 5-2 lead in the opening set, then held off Paolini's attempts at a fightback.

Any momentum Paolini did manage to build at the end of the first set was snuffed out early in the second, when she took a heavy fall and appeared to roll her right ankle mid-rally.

She walked to the chair and was in tears before attempting to play on, but she was simply unable to match Kenin's movement and intensity from there.

The American only dropped four points for the remainder of the match, and will next take on 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who battled back to beat Paula Badosa.

Australian Open semi-finalist Badosa went ahead but Rybakina rallied to come through two tie-breaks and win 4-6 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (7-2).

Rybakina, who saved six match points, has reached her 15th Tour-level quarter-final since the start of 2024, matching the tallies of Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka in that time (including team events).

Clinical @sofiakenin takes out the defending champion Paolini 6-4, 6-0!#DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/VX1Lnd4aML

— wta (@WTA) February 19, 2025

Data Debrief: Two-year wait over for Kenin

Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, saved two match points when overcoming Marta Kostyuk 5-7 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (7-5) in a gruelling second-round contest, but she had it far easier against Paolini.

Hampered by her injury, Paolini won just 44% of her first-serve points in the second set (4/9), compared to 90% for Kenin (9/10).

Kenin is now into her first WTA-1000 quarter-final since 2023, when she made the last four at the Guadalajara Open but lost to eventual runner-up Caroline Dolehide.