Victoria Azarenka is in hot form after winning the 2013 Australian Open and will look to defend her title here.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Come Monday and the Qatar Total Open 2013 will celebrate over a decade of women’s tennis in Doha.
While the event was not played in 2009 and 2010, when WTA and Qatar Tennis Federation staged the WTA Year-Ending Championships here, the tournament has seen internationally renowned champions lift the coveted trophy over the years at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.
Under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the event has only flourished with this year’s event being a WTA Premier 5. The total prize money is $2,369,000 and the tournament will see 56-direct entry players in the singles draw.
The event, over the course of its history, has seen some of the most illustrious winners. World No. 1, Victoria Azarenka, will look to defend her title against a group of women that include Grand Slam champions Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Samantha Stosur, Petra Kvitova and Ana Ivanovic.
The early years of the event saw world number ones stamp their authority on the tournament. Martina Hingis faced No. 3 seed Sandrine Testud in the final and had no problem dismantling the Frenchwoman 6-3, 6-2 (and never losing a set during the entire tournament) to win the first ever Qatar Ladies Open title.
The 2002 top seed Monica Seles eased her way through to the finals where she faced Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn. Tanasugarn was the tournament’s 4th seed and was a force to be reckoned with but Seles prevailed and won the match 7-6(6), 6-3. Her title in Doha would prove to be Seles’ last career professional title.
It was a Russian invasion in Doha for the next four years. Anastasia Myskina won back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004. In both the finals, she beat a compatriot —Elena Likhovtseva and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
A year after she won at Wimbledon, Maria Sharapova came to town and made the most of it. She hadn’t dropped a set but final was a different story. Australia’s Alicia Molik won the first set but Sharapova found her form and quickly went on to win the next two sets and the match, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Sharapova won the title again in 2008.
Nadia Petrova continued the Russian tradition in 2006, beating top seed and then-world No. 2 Amelia Mauresmo of France in the final.
Justine Henin halted the Russian streak in 2007. The Belgian’s last trip to Doha was stopped prematurely by Kuznetsova in the 2004 semifinals. In 2007, however, the tournament final threw a different result.
After three consecutive year-end finals, the WTA event returned to Doha in 2011. Vera Zvonareva downed the then world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the final.
In 2012, newly crowned Australian Open champion, Victoria Azarenka, came to Doha to prove her status as the new world No. 1. She faced a field of players that included Agnieszka Radwanska, Marion Bartoli and finalist Stosur. Azarenka fought her way through the draw to face the Australian Stosur and was able to claim her first Doha title.