Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates with the trophy on the podium after defeating US' Jessica Pegula in the final match of the Qatar Open at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash complex in Doha on February 18, 2023. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP)
Doha: World No.1 Iga Swiatek swept past second seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-0 to successfully defend her Qatar TotalEnergies Open title at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex yesterday.
It is first title of the season and 12th overall triumph for the Polish star.
In a seemingly one-sided final against American World No.4, Swiatek sealed the victory in just 69 minutes in the final in front of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar Olympic Committee President H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani and Qatar Tennis Squash and Badminton Federation President Nasser bin Ghanim Al Khelaifi.
“Yesterday it kind of hit me that even though it’s windy, I can use the wind properly and kind of use my intuition to sometimes imagine that I should play shorter, or on the other hand, play with more topspin so the wind is going to kind of take this ball even further,” Swiatek said during her courtside interview following the victory in front of a full house at the famed venue.
“So today I just kind of continued that, but I didn’t really want to over analyze that, and I just kind of played how my intuition told me. It’s nice, because usually I’m basing everything on my tactics and on the technique that I’m working on. But here I felt like I could just reset that and play more freely without overthinking,” Swiatek said.
Swiatek title win in Doha last year, following a 6-2, 6-0 final win over Estonian Anett Kontaveit, kicked off an unprecedented 37-match unbeaten streak, and the 21-year-old Warsaw-born star is already showing signs of a dominant season. Her amazing run culminated with her second Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, before losing to Elena Rybakina in the fourth round of the Australian Open before she headed to Doha.
She made an immediate impact in Doha this time, showing signs of a strong comeback from her defeat Down Under as she recorded an impressive run in which she dropped just five games on her way to lift the prestigious Golden Falcon title yesterday.
“I’m really happy that I could kind of find more balance, comparing to how I felt at the beginning of the season,” Swiatek said, after her win.
“I think this tournament is going to give me a lot of confidence, but still, I want to take everything step by step. I’m just really happy that I could win this match today.”
Swiatek used heavy replies off Pegula’s services to go up a break at both 2-0 and 4-2, but the American immediately broke back each time, forcing Swiatek into errors by using her exceptional speed to extend rallies in the first set.
However, the top seed revved up her attack with stronger returns to break for a 5-3 lead. This time Swiatek could go ahead without much resistance as she powered to a love hold to take the one-set lead.
Unlike the opening set, Swiatek was in control almost entirely in the second set as she marched towards victory without having to sweat much.
“I’m pretty happy with my performance. But I wanted to congratulate Jessica. (She is a) really consistent player and her work ethic and everything she represents is pretty great. I wanted to also thank my team, my coach who’s at home and my dad and my sister as well, everybody who’s supporting me every day. These are the people that are really with me in good times and in bad times. So I’m really grateful for that. And without them, I wouldn’t be I wouldn’t be here. And thank you for the fans for coming,” Swiatek said.
Despite her loss in the singles final, Pegula, who teamed up with Coco Gauff to clinch the doubles title, said it has been an awesome week.
“Yeah, it’s been an awesome week. A lot of great results and yeah, just really happy of all the work I got to put in this week and it came up a little bit short today, but still can be very proud of what I’ve done,” Pegula said.
