Swiatek, who bagged two Grand Slam titles last year besides winning six other tournaments, yesterday looked in brilliant form against an opponent who was making her maiden appearance in Doha.
The 21-year-old Polish star, who plays in-form Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in the quarter-finals today, yesterday said Doha brings out the best in her game.
“I really like playing here. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what result I had last year. I just really like the conditions here and I enjoy the venue, the atmosphere. It’s really a great tournament,” Swiatek said after the one-sided match.
When asked about her clash against Bencic, Swiatek said: “Belinda is a great player. We played in United Cup and it was a really tight match. I know it’s going to be intense and it’s a big challenge. I am going to try to use my experience. I know it’s going to be fun because, you know, playing with Belinda, she plays really fast so you have to be on your toes all the time. I’m looking forward to the match.”
Last week’s winner in Abu Dhabi, Bencic yesterday showed the door to two-time Qatar champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the day’s first match. Bencic won 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 to secure a quarters berth at the 32-player field tournament. Azarenka, one of four players to have emerged champion twice in Doha, fired nine aces but Bencic sealed the match in two hours and 42 minutes.
Earlier fourth seed Coco Gauff of the US battled past two-time Doha champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic to sail into the last-eight of the tournament. Gauff, playing for the first time against Kvitova, fired seven aces to win 6-3, 7-6. The match ended in 83 minutes.
The American, a losing finalist at the French Open 2022, was stretched to a tie-breaker in the deciding set but after a brief resistance Kvitova could not take the match into a third set. Tied at 5-all in the tie-breaker, Gauff sealed the match in he favour after a couple of errors by Kvitova handed the American the win.
Gauff, making second appearance at Doha where her previous result was reaching quarter-finals last year, was only seven years old when Kvitova captured her first Wimbledon title in 2011, a fact quickly acknowledged by the 18-year-old American after her match. “It’s a pretty special moment for me. She (Kvitova) always does well in these tournaments and she’s a fighter. She showed today she was fighting and I just got kind of close ones at the end,” Gauff said after the match. “In the last couple of years we haven’t played that much,” she added.
With a heavy American presence in the main draw and in the qualifiers, Gauff said there was little information sharing among the players.
“Well, I don’t know about sharing information just because everybody kind of knows how each other plays,” Gauff said. “But yeah, there’s definitely camaraderie (among the players). At the player dinner, we didn’t get the whole Team USA in the picture, but, you know, we always get excited when we see each other in the tournaments. A bit of familiarity and I always enjoy playing tournaments where there’s a lot of Americans here,” she added.
When reminded that second seed Jessica Pegula of the US was scheduled to play later yesterday, Gauff said: “Yeah, I’ll be watching (Jessica) on TV, though. I have to go eat, but hopefully Jess pulls it out and then maybe we can have two wins today.”
True to Gauff’s wish, Pegula rallied for a spectacular comeback win against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. Trailing 2-5 in the third set, Pegula rallied with solid serves and a brilliant baseline game to win 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 in 1 hour 51 minutes.
Pegula, thrilled with her win, said: “The beauty about tennis is there’s no time limit, so there’s always a chance. I don’t know. I just tried to win that game. Obviously, I got the break and I knew I had some momentum, but she returned so well. It’s really windy out here. It’s hard when she’s hitting the ball so deep. So I just tried to serve a little bit smarter, maybe got a little lucky. I don’t know how I did it, to be honest.”
Yesterday’s results
Coco Gauff (4), US, def. Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, 6-3, 7-6 (6)Veronika Kudermetova (8), Russia, def. Sofia Kenin, US, 6-2, 7-5
Belinda Bencic (7), Switzerland, def. V Azarenka, Belarus, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4
Maria Sakkari (5), Greece, def. Ekaterina Alexandrova, Russia, 6-3, 6-2
Jessica Pegula (2), US, def. Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5
Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazil, def. Daria Kasatkina (6), Russia, 6-3, 7-6 (7)
Iga Swiatek (1), Poland, def. Danielle Collins, US, 6-0, 6-1
Order of play today
Center Court (Starts at 03:30pm)
Quarterfinal:
(USA) C. Gauff (4) vs (RUS) V. Kudermetova (8)
Followed by
(BRA) B. Haddad Maia vs (USA) J. Pegula (2)
Followed by
(POL) I. Swiatek (1) vs (SUI) B. Bencic (7)
Not before 8:00pm
Quarterfinal
(GRE) M. Sakkari (5) vs (FRA) C Garcia
Douobles Semi-finals
Grandstand 1
Starts at 4:30pm
