SWIATEK REIGNS SUPREME
Top seed defeats Rybakina in straight sets to win third consecutive Qatar Open title
Doha, Qatar - Top seed Iga Swiatek overcame a gritty challenge by world number four Elena Rybakina to take home the Qatar Open title for the third straight year with a 7-6(8), 6-2 victory in Saturday’s final.
The 22-year-old Pole, who raced to her 12th consecutive match win in Doha, became the first player to capture a singles title at an event in three successive years since Serena Williams triumphed in Miami from 201315.
The win also improved her head-to-head record over Rybakina to 3-2, having lost on all three occasions last year.
Swiatek endured a slow start as she went 4-1 down in a rollercoaster opening set before the four-times Grand Slam champion slowly found her groove to level things up at 4-4.
After the set went into a tiebreaker, the momentum swung back and forth before Swiatek wrapped up the 90minute-long set with a well-executed backhand winner.
“It was really long, I wasn’t expecting that. It was really tough,” Swiatek said while describing the marathon first set.
“I came here and was pretty stressed... I felt the expectations. I wanted to do everything stepby-step, as I always do, and it worked... I’m really happy. I’m really proud of myself.
“Congrats to Elena for a great tournament and to her team. We have already played so many tough matches that I think it’s going to be great if we continue, have fun and give a nice experience to the fans.”
Rybakina had taken a medical timeout after hitting her own leg during the opening set and that seemed to hamper the 24-yearold Kazakh as Swiatek wasted no time to take the second set and
It’s been a great last two weeks ... I didn’t expect to see so much support ELENA RYBAKINA