Tennis: Luisa Stefani, partner play in WTA quarterfinals

Luisa Stefani (Brazil) and Shuai Zhang (China) return to the tennis court today (Feb. 9), at 10:30 a.m. (Brasília time), to face Laura Siegmund (Germany) and Kirsten Flipkens (Belgium) for a place in the semifinal of the WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi.

The new Stefani and Zhang partnership won 2 sets to 1, on Wednesday (8), in the opening match of the tournament against Kazakh Anna Danilina - Stefani's former partner - and Ukrainian Lyudmila Kichenok. The game in Abu Dhabi was also Stefani's first one alongside Zhang.

"First time playing together, you always have to adapt. They’ve played well, it was a long game, but I’m very happy to get through this debut," Stefani said.

Olympic doubles medalist at the Tokyo Games, Stefani is living a great moment in her career. A little over two weeks ago, she won, together with Rafael Matos, the unprecedented title for the country in the mixed doubles of the Australian Open. Before that, on January 13, she had won the doubles title at the WTA 500 in Adelaide, together with American Taylor Towsend.

Also today, Brazilian Beatriz Haddad, currently number 15 in the world, will play a decisive match starting at noon in the last round of 16 of singles. She will face, for the first time on the world circuit, Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (46th). Haddad made her debut on Tuesday (7) with a come-from-behind victory by 2 sets to 1 over Marie Bouzkova (26th).