Swiatek stretches Doha winning streak to 11, reaches semis

Iga Swiatek continues to ride the hot hand in Doha. The world No 1 stretched her personal winning streak to 11 victories in Qatar’s capital, powering to a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Victoria Azarenka at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha on Thursday evening.

In the pair’s first meeting since 2022 it was Swiatek who broke open a tight first set and never looked back as she captured the final eight games to reach the semi-finals.

Swiatek, ranked No 1, will play the winner of the match between Japanese Naomi Osaka and Karolina Pliskova next.

Swiatek is bidding to become the complete a tournament threepeat since Serena Williams logged three consecutive Miami Open titles from 2013 to 2015. She improved to 3-1 lifetime against Azarenka, and 10-1 on the season.

The 22-year-old Pole won against Romanian Sorana Cirstea (6-1, 6-1) and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 14 seed (6-1, 6-4) ahead of her victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Azarenka, ranked No 31, beat Pole qualifier Magdalena Frech (6-3, 3-6, 6-3), Chinese Xinyu Wang (7-6 (2), 6-2) and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the No 8 seed (6-0, 6-3).

Doha WTA 1000, other last eight results (Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, hard, USD 3.211.715, most recent results first):

• Naomi Osaka vs. Karolina Pliskova
• Elena Rybakina (3) beat Leylah Fernandez: 6-4, 6-2
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Danielle Collins (Q): 7-5, 6-4

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