In 2022, the top tennis player in the world, Iga Swiatek, began a 37-match winning streak at Doha.
On Saturday, she defended her title in a match against Jessica Pegula and hopes to start a similar winning streak in 2023.
Swiatek only dropped three games in the final.
BACK2BACK IN DOHA 🏆🏆
🇵🇱 @iga_swiatek defends her @QatarTennis title, seeing off Pegula 6-3, 6-0! #QatarTennis pic.twitter.com/FsCo6GOFL3
— wta (@WTA) February 18, 2023
With this victory, Swiatek set a new WTA record for the least amount of games lost in a tournament with 5.
Swiatek avenged a stunning loss to Pegula in the semifinals of the United Cup in January.
In that match, Pegula dominated Swiatek, and the final score was 6-2, 6-2.
This is the sixth meeting between these two players in 11 months; Swiatek leads the head-to-head matchup 4-2.
Pegula Was Going For Both Singles And Doubles Titles At Doha
Jessica Pegula was coming off of a successful defense of the doubles title at Doha.
She and partner Coco Gauff repeated on Friday with a thrilling three-set win (6-4, 2-6, 10-7) over Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Though her singles aspirations did not work out as she expected, the ever-gracious Pegula congratulated Swiatek.
“Yeah, it’s been an awesome week with a lot of great results. Really happy with all the work I put in this week. I came up a little bit short today… Congrats to Iga and her team for playing great & defending her title here.”
Swiatek Continues To Shine Light On Ukraine Situation
With the win, Swiatek earns her 12th career WTA title.
Swiatek has grown accustomed to using her platform to advocate for the plight of the Ukrainian people in the ongoing war.
A native of Poland, Swiatek wears a Ukranian flag ribbon on her cap.
Iga Swiatek, still wearing Ukrainian flag ribbon on cap, makes point of speaking out on war in Doha ceremony
"I feel we all have short memories but we all should support Ukrainians…it’s pretty disappointing the situation is not changing but hopefully we will stay strong" pic.twitter.com/Survc7Ze1A
— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) February 18, 2023
After the win, she said:
“I feel we all have short memories but we all should support Ukrainians…it’s pretty disappointing the situation is not changing but hopefully we will stay strong.”
What’s Next For Swiatek And Pegula?
There is no rest for the weary as both Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula headline a star-studded draw at the 2023 Dubai Championships next week.
Also vying for the Dubai title will be the 2023 Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and the 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.
It’s been years since women’s tennis has been this competitive with so many young players battling week in and week out for titles.
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