Iga Swiatek sweeps past Sakkari to return to last 16 at Qatar Open
The world No 2 sprinted past Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-2. She will face the winner of the match between Linda Noskova and Yulia Putintseva in the next round
Iga Swiatek, Qatar Open, AI / Reuters / Panoramic
Three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek kicked off her campaign for a record-extending fourth consecutive Qatar Open title with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Maria Sakkari to ease into the last 16 in Doha.
The Pole continued her imperious form in the Qatari capital with her 13th straight victory at this tournament. Having also now won a remarkable 25 consecutive sets at the event, Swiatek extends her win-loss record in Doha to 14-1.
She has also nudged ahead of Sakkari in the pair’s head-to-head record, with the Greek winning their opening three encounters before Swiatek took the next four.
The Pole’s recent dominance was evident across today’s contest. An even start rapidly gave way to yet another Swiatek masterclass in Doha as she won 10 of the last 12 games to sprint to a commanding victory over the world No 29.
irrepresible iga too strong for sakkari
Both players traded a pair of breaks across the opening six games, with Swiatek moving 2-0 up before Sakkari pegged the Pole back and struck again for a 3-2 lead. That was short-lived, however, as the world No 2 suddenly moved into a gear that Sakkari simply couldn’t reach, winning the next eight games in a row to move into a one-set, 4-0 lead. After what had been a fluctuating opening half an hour, Swiatek had seized full control of the encounter in a blitz of full-throttle attacking tennis.
The Pole’s eight-game winning streak was finally halted as the Greek got a point on the board for the first time in the second set by holding serve in the fifth game.
Sakkari then did well to hold off her relentless opponent, saving a match point when serving to stay in the contest at 5-2 down. But it was simply a case of delaying the inevitable as Swiatek duly served out another authoritative win over Sakkari.
“Honestly, it’s hard to say,” Swiatek replied when asked what makes her form so formidable in Doha.
“From what I remember it’s not like I’ve been playing flawlessly, so it’s not like these tournaments were perfect, but at some point always I found some solutions. I think the conditions here are pretty tricky, and I was patient enough to just keep focusing on my game.
“Every year it’s different, every year there is a different story, so it’s hard to compare and hard to find one thing that worked exactly.”
The three-time defending champion will face the winner of the match between Linda Noskova and Kazakh Yulia Putintseva in the last 16, having successfully navigated a potentially thorny first-round match-up against a former top-5 player.
Swiatek’s hunt for a fourth straight Qatar Open title is up and running. Based on the evidence of today’s victory, and with a winning percentage of 93% at this tournament, stopping her this year again looks an ominous task.
