Iga Swiatek had a lot of problems against Elena Rybakina in the past, but she overcame that to win the third consecutive title at the Qatar Open.
No player has been as dominant as Swiatek in Doha in recent years. The Polish player won the 2022, 2023, and now the 2024 event. It's been a very interesting event for Swiatek, who played really well but certainly had to dig deep to win the final.
Rybakina was always going to be a tough match for her, and it showed early in this match. The Kazakhstani player proved more than tough this time around as well because it took everything the Pole had and a little bit of luck to win the match.
The third seed took an early break as she overwhelmed the Polish player from the baseline. She has more of a flat game compared to Swiatek, and it was firing on all cylinders.
Slowly but surely, the top seed was able to find some angles and battle her way back into the match. Rybakina would break once more for a 6-5 lead but failed to serve the opening set, so it ended up in a tie-break.
It was an epic tie-break with chances for both players, but ultimately, it was Swiatek who won it, mostly because she made fewer mistakes. The match mostly saw them trade blows from the baseline, and the Pole just had a bit more control in those rallies.
Predictably, the winner of the opening set would carry over the momentum in the second set, and that was the Polish player. Rybakina started to miss a lot in the second set, and it showed on the scoreboard, too.
Ultimately Swiatek won the match 7-6(8), 6-2, winning her third consecutive title at the Qatar Open in Doha. It was another incredible run for Swiatek, while Rybakina remains on two trophies this year.
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