Iga Swiatek lifted the trophy two years in a row at the Qatar Open in Doha, and she's looking to make it three in a row this year with yet another great performance.
Swiatek won the event in 2022 and 2023 and has a chance to go three times in a row this year, with her performances so far indicating that she's likely to do that. She added yet another dominant win in the quarterfinals by beating Victoria Azarenka, who demolished Jelena Ostapenko in the previous round.
Azarenka was playing really well at the WTA 1000 event so far, and she certainly gave Swiatek a good fight as long as she could, at least. The opening set was a proper battle between two players that seemed quite evenly matched.
Both players dropped their serve in the opening set, but Swiatek was a bit cleaner in her play overall. The conditions in Doha suit her really well, and she showed that in the previous rounds. She had to work a bit more in the opening set of this match, but ultimately, she won it 6-4, despite being 3-4, and 30-40 down.
The second set was when Swiatek easily overpowered her opponent because she was able to really find her best tennis. Azarenka got overwhelmed by her opponent in the second set and couldn't find any response.
She doesn't have the weapons that Swiatek has, and that was a huge problem once the Polish player found her best level. The set lasted only 30 minutes, and the score was 6-0, which indicates how strongly the Pole overpowered her opponent in the final set.
Nobody can really hang with her when it comes to hitting in conditions like these, and certainly not Azarenka. At the event, maybe only Elena Rybakina could stop her, but the quarterfinal match was not a losing one for Swiatek, as she won 6-4 6-0 was the final score.
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