Iga Swiatek latest player to withdraw from Qatar Open

French Open champion Iga Swiatek has joined a growing list of top players pulling out of the Qatar Open, with the Pole saying she wanted to avoid injury after winning the second title of her career at the Adelaide International on Saturday.

World No 1 Ash Barty on Wednesday withdrew from the March 1-6 tournament in Doha with a left leg injury, while world No 3 Simona Halep and 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu are also skipping the event.

“Yesterday we decided ... that we’re going to withdraw from Doha because of some intense weeks here,” Swiatek, who played a warm-up in Melbourne before this month’s Australian Open, said after beating Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-2 in the Adelaide final.

“I don’t want to have injury or anything. I want my body to rest properly.” Swiatek is also scheduled to compete in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships next month.

The 19-year-old Pole shot out of relative obscurity last year when she became the youngest woman to win the Roland Garros title since Monica Seles in 1992.

The world No 18 showed again why she is so highly rated with a superb week in Adelaide.

Swiatek did not drop a set throughout the WTA 500 tournament and lost only 22 games in all.

She fired 22 winners and made only six unforced errors in the final.

Meanwhile, veteran Frenchman Gilles Simon has said he is taking an indefinite break from the ATP Tour out of concern for his mental health.

The 36-year-old, who reached a career-high singles ranking of six in 2009 but is now ranked 68, won the last of his 14 titles on the men’s tour in 2018.

“With my heart not being there to travel and play in these conditions, I unfortunately have to take a break to preserve myself mentally,” Simon wrote on Twitter.

“Hopefully my morale picks up as soon as possible.