The world’s number one Iga Swiatek (Poland) won her third consecutive title at the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open hard court tennis tournament with a prize pool of 3.2 million USD. In the final, the Polish tennis player defeated the third-seeded Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) by 2-0 (7:6, 6:2) in 2:19 hours.
Iga Swiatek, 22, who recorded her 12th consecutive victory in Doha, became the first tennis player to win the singles title in the same tournament in three consecutive years since Serena Williams triumphed in Miami from 2013 to 2015.
The win was also Iga Swiatek‘s second against Elena Rybakina in five matches, after she lost all three matches against the Kazakhstani last year.
The Polish tennis player started poorly and trailed 1:4 before finding her rhythm and leveling at 4:4. After the set went into a tiebreak, it was evenly played before Iga Swiatek ended the 90-minute period with a well-executed backhand for 10-8.
Elena Rybakina took a medical break after hitting her leg during the first set and that seemed to hamper the Kazakh as Iga Swiatek had no trouble in the second set to secure her first WTA 1000 title of the year.
“I never thought that the feeling of winning a tournament three times in a row was so special. However, such things quite often happen just when you least expect them. That’s exactly why I don’t set myself the goal of improving specific records. I just play and that’s all”, said Iga Swiatek after triumphing with the title. “When I came to Doha, I thought I was going to go out in the second round. I didn’t feel very confident before the tournament. After Grand Slams, I usually get a chance to spend some time at home, but it didn’t happen this time. Instead, I had to concentrate solely on tennis and work very hard. From an emotional point of view I was not in a very good situation and therefore I did not have high expectations for myself before the tournament in Doha”, added she.
