By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, February 10, 2025
Iga Swiatek launched her quest for a record fourth consecutive Doha crown sweeping Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2 at the Qatar Open.
Photo credit Clive Brunskill/Getty
Sporting headphones, Iga Swiatek was rocking to AC/DC as she strode on court to launch her Doha defense today.
It began as a headbanger’s ball and became a Swiatek streak show.
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Three-time defending champion Swiatek surge through eight games in a row sweeping Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2, to score her 13th consecutive win at the Qatar Total Energies Open.
The second-ranked Swiatek, who raised her Doha record to 14-1 with her lone loss coming to Svetlana Kuznetsova back in 2020, saved four of six break points. Reigning Roland Garros champion Swiatek has now won 24 straight sets in Doha, including her 7-6(8), 6-2 win over Elena Rybakina in the 2024 final.
Down 2-3 in the opener today, Swiatek dialed in her drives began mixing lethal doses of her dancing topspin forehand with her flat backhand and burst through eight games in a row to go up a set and 4-0.
“For sure Maria is a great player,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “I have such a huge respect for her. We already played many important matches.
“Playing her in the second round was tricky. Because the draw is small, you can play a Grand Slam champion in the first round, basically. So I was ready for the beginning and ready for the battle for sure.”
Extending her Doha streak, Swiatek is bidding to make history as just the second woman since 2000 to win the same singles title four years in a row. Swiatek would join Queen of Yale Tennis Caroline Wozniacki, who captured New Haven four straight years from 2008 to 2011 earning honorary Yale Bulldog status as a result.
The second-seeded Pole will play either Linda Noskova, who upset Swiatek at the 2024 Australian Open, or veteran Yulia Putintseva, who shocked Swiatek at Wimbledon last summer, for a quarterfinal spot.
Noskova toppled 15th-seeded Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-4.
The 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez toppled eighth-seeded American Emma Navarro 6-2, 6-2.
Fueled by one of her best serving performances, Fernandez fired four aces, won 25 of 31 first-serve points and faced just two break points beating Navarro for the third time in four meetings. Fernandez has not dropped a set reaching the round of 16.
No. 10-seeded Daria Kasatkina crushed lucky loser Polina Kudermetova 6-0, 6-0 avenging a Brisbane loss to Kudermetova last month. The win comes a week after Belinda Bencic double-bageled Veronika Kudermetova, Polina’s sister, in the Abu Dhabi round of 16.
Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin defeated Abu Dhabi finalist Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 6-4 converting all four break-point chances in a 72-minute win. Kenin will face big-serving compatriot Alycia Parks next.
On her second match point, Swiatek coaxed an errant Sakkari return raising her Doha record to 14-1.
The Qatar open is fast becoming Swiatek’s home away from home.
“For sure since 2022 I just feel like coming here I can really focus on work,” Swiatek said. “Everything is really organized, the conditions are great, a little bit tricky but we have everything we need…Hopefully I’m gonna stay here as long as possible.”