Iga Swiatek ‘really proud’ after claiming third consecutive title in Doha
Iga Swiatek has become the first woman in history to win the Qatar Open title three times, and the world No.1 has revealed how ‘proud’ she is of herself for this achievement.
Swiatek played Abu Dhabi champion Elena Rybakina in the final, who had beaten the Pole in three of their four previous meetings.
And it was the Kazakhstani who got off to the better start, going up 4-1 in the first set with a double break.
However, Swiatek showed her fighting capabilities and claimed the opener in a tie-break, despite Rybakina having a set point.
And the four-time Grand Slam champion gave credit to her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, for this, “I was just making too many mistakes and I was kind of panicking at the beginning not knowing what I should change.
“But the coach really had a nice idea and I just kind of trusted him and stuck to his idea and his words. I wasn’t really thinking much myself because it was hard for me to analyse perfectly. So I just trusted him and it worked.”
Swiatek continued this momentum to beat the 2022 Wimbledon champion, 7-6(8) 6-2, becoming the first woman to win a WTA title three years in a row since Serena Williams at the Miami Open in 2015.
The 22-year-old revealed how much this achievement played on her mind prior to the match, “You don’t even know how hard it was not to think about it. I came here and I was just pretty stressed because of that because I felt the expectations.
“But I wanted to just do everything step by step as I always do and again it worked. So thank you to my team also for keeping me on the ground and focusing on the right stuff, because achieving that is great. I’m really happy and really proud of myself.”
Swiatek is the youngest woman to win seven WTA 1000 titles prior to turning 23, and will bid for an eighth next week with a tight turnaround for the event in Dubai.
As the top seed, Swiatek receives a bye to the second round, where she will play the winner of Sloane Stephens and Clara Burel.
So so happy! ????
Thank you Team ????????#TeamSwiatek pic.twitter.com/HKZ8ehxFbs— Iga Świątek (@iga_swiatek) February 17, 2024
Inside the baseline…
Iga Swiatek continues to just showcase her dominance in Doha, where the slow hard courts really seem to suit her game that has been so impressive on clay in recent years. Swiatek did not drop a set all week, which is even more impressive considering her disappointing performance at the Australian Open where she faced an early exit to Linda Noskova in the third round.
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