Crowd favourite Swiatek brushes aside Sakkari, Badosa stretched to three sets

Second seed and crowd favourite Iga Swiatek of Poland yesterday relied on her experience to beat Maria Sakkari of Greece in straight sets at the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open.
Aiming to win her fourth successive title in Doha, Swiatek won 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour 22 minutes on the Centre Court at Khalifa International Tennis Complex.
It was Swiatek’s fourth consecutive win over Sakkari, 29, in seven matches on the Tour.
Sakkari, on the other hand, has not been able to put together back-to-back WTA Tour match-wins since Paris Olympics last year.
Swiatek, winner of four French Open titles and one US Open, is aiming to join an elite club of female tennis players by winning the same tournament four years in a row.
If she succeeds, she’ll be the first woman to achieve this feat this century, with the exception of Caroline Wozniacki who won in New Haven from 2008-2011.
Since her second-round match against Viktorija Golubic at the 2022 Qatar Open, the 23-year-old Pole hasn’t lost a single set at the tournament.
Also yesterday, ninth seed Paula Badosa of Spain beat Renata Zarazua of Mexico in three sets.
Badosa won 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in 1 hours and 47 minutes. Badosa fired a staggering 14 aces in her feisty win.
With top seed and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka yet to hit the court, Swiatek yesterday got stalled by a slightly shaky start but recovered in quick fashion to overpower Sakkari.
This match marked Swiatek’s return to court after losing to eventual champion Madison Keys in the Australian Open semi-finals last month.
As the world number two, Swiatek is now set to face either Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan or Czech teenager Linda Noskova in the round of 16.
“Maria is a great player, and I have a lot of respect for her. We’ve already played many important matches, so facing her in the second round was tricky,” Swiatek said yesterday. “Honestly, I am used to challenging draws at these kind of tournaments because they have smaller fields. You can easily face a Grand Slam champion in the first round, so I was ready from the beginning and prepared for a battle,” she added.
Tunisia’s Jabuer starts Doha journey with commanding win
Arab superstar Jabeur yesterday thrilled the Doha crowds with a 6-2, 6-0 dismissal of McCartney Kessler of the US on Centre Court.
The Tunisian needed just 56 minutes to slice and dice her way past the power-hitting American.
Former world No 2 Jabeur, the highest-ranked Arab player in tennis history, is making her milestone 10th Doha main-draw appearance this week.
She kicked this run off with a bang, winning 89 percent of her second-service points en route to a swift win over 57th-ranked Kessler.
A two-time Doha quarter-finalist, Jabeur will need to collect a Top 10 win in order to make this week’s Round of 16. Jabeur’s next match will be against No 7 seed Zheng Qinwen of China, their first meeting since the 2023 US Open. Zheng holds a 2-0 lead in their head-to-head.
In a clash between former Top 10 players, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina yesterday shook off a tough first set to overcome Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 0-6, 6-2, 7-5 in 1 hour and 54 minutes.
Svitolina also had to fight back from an early break down in the third set, and she missed out on one match point at 5-4 before breaking for the win at last. Former world No 3 Svitolina now holds a slim 4-3 lead in her rivalry with 2023 Wimbledon champion Vondrousova.
Next up for Svitolina will be a second-round meeting with No 6 seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, last year’s US Open runner-up. Pegula leads their head-to-head 4-2, but Svitolina won their most recent meeting at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
A round ahead of the aforementioned winners, Fernandez booked a Round of 16 spot with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over No 8 seed Emma Navarro. World No 27 Fernandez took only 66 minutes to grab her eighth career Top 10 win.
Despite their current rankings, Fernandez has had the upper hand on Navarro in the past. Fernandez leads their tour-level head-to-head 3-1 - and the Canadian also defeated Navarro handily in the 2019 Junior Roland Garros final.
Results from the WTA’s Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha yesterday (x denotes seeding):2nd rdLeylah Fernandez (CAN) bt Emma Navarro (USA x8) 6-2, 6-2
Iga Swiatek (POL x2) bt Maria Sakkari (GRE) 6-3, 6-2
1st rdDaria Kasatkina (RUS x10) bt Polina Kudermetova (RUS) 6-0, 6-0
Magda Linette (POL) bt Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) 3-6, 6-0, 6-4
Sofia Kenin (USA) bt Ashlyn Krueger (USA) 6-4, 6-4
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) bt Aoi Ito (JPN) 6-2, 6-1
Rebecca Sramkova (SVK) bt Anhelina Kalinina (UKR) 6-2, 6-3
Linda Noskova (CZE) bt Donna Vekic (CRO x15) 6-2, 6-4
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) bt Moyuka Uchijima (JPN) 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3