Iga Swiatek holds off Elena Rybakina to capture third straight Qatar Open crown
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates with the trophy after winning the final against Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
DOHA – Top seed Iga Swiatek overcame a gritty challenge by world No. 4 Elena Rybakina to take home the Qatar Open title for the third straight year with a 7-6 (10-8), 6-2 victory in the Feb 17 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 2013 to 2015.
The win also improved her head-to-head record over Rybakina to 2-3, having lost on all three occasions in 2023.
Swiatek endured a slow start as she went 4-1 down in a roller-coaster opening set before the four-time Grand Slam champion slowly found her groove to level things up at 4-4.
After the set went into a tiebreak, the momentum swung back and forth before Swiatek wrapped up the 90-minute set with a well-executed backhand winner.
“It was really long, I wasn’t expecting that. It was really tough,” said Swiatek on the marathon first set.
“I came here and was pretty stressed... I felt the expectations. I wanted to do everything step by step, as I always do, and it worked... I’m really happy. I’m really proud of myself.”
Rybakina had taken a medical timeout after hitting her own leg during the opening set and that seemed to hamper the 24-year-old Kazakh, as Swiatek wasted no time to clinch the second set and secure her first WTA title of 2024.
Despite her defeat, Rybakina said she had many positives to take from her second final in as many weeks, having won the Abu Dhabi Open on Feb 11.
“It’s been a great last two weeks... I didn’t expect to see so much support. It really helps, especially when it’s such tough matches,” she said.
On the men’s circuit, world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz slumped to a shock straight-set loss to Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in the semi-finals of the ATP Buenos Aires tournament on Feb 17.
The defending champion, playing in his first tournament since losing in the Australian Open quarter-finals, was beaten 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.
“It’s a difficult defeat, it hurt me a lot,” Alcaraz said. “There are many things to improve, and my level has to go up. (I need to) read the matches better, to give my best version in the moments of tension. Today I lacked that in the 0-30, in the break points, to be able to play differently there.”
Jarry, ranked 21st in the world, claimed his first win over the two-time Grand Slam champion in three meetings, wrapping up victory on a second match point after almost two hours on the clay court.
“Third-time lucky,” said the 28-year-old. “Carlos is one of the best players so it means a lot, especially after the battles I’ve had a couple of days ago. It’s been very tough physically, so I’m very happy to be able to come back.
“I didn’t start very well and couldn’t win points on his serve, but I came back little by little.”
Jarry will face Argentinian wild card and 87th-ranked Facundo Diaz Acosta in the final which took place after press time.
Meanwhile, Australian Open champion and world No. 4 Jannik Sinner cruised into the Rotterdam Open final with a 6-2, 6-4 win over local hero Tallon Griekspoor, extending his unbeaten run to 14 matches.
Also reaching the final was Australia’s 11th-ranked Alex de Minaur, who celebrated his 25th birthday with a 6-4, 6-3 semi-final win over Bulgaria’s world No. 13 Grigor Dimitrov. Victory will take de Minaur to a career-high world No. 9 – his first time in the top 10. REUTERS
