Iga Swiatek swept past Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-0 in the Qatar TotalEnergies Open final to defend her Doha title and the points she earned at the start of her last year’s historic 37-match winning streak. Has there ever been a more dominant title run at a tournament than this one?
Swiatek was ruthless all week in Doha. After a first-round bye, the world No.1 wasted just 53 minutes to dispatch Danielle Collins 6-0 6-1, then Belinda Bencic handed her a walkover, and Veronika Kudermetova detained her on the court for just 56 minutes in the semifinal that finished with a 6-0 6-1 scoreline.
In the title match, the second-seeded Pegula did provide more resistance, twice recovering from a break down in the first set, thus being the first player to break Swiatek’s serve at the 2023 Qatar TotalEnergies Open, but the Pole comfortably neutralized her resistance and stepped up in the second set to avenge January’s loss to the American at the United Cup. The final lasted one hour and nine minutes, Swiatek’s longest match this week.
Swiatek’s winning equipment: A black Asics quarter-zip top, Asics Women’s Spring Match Short, Asics Gel Resolution 9 tennis shoes, and Tecnifibre Tempo 298 Iga tennis racquet.
Iga seemed to be having trouble at the first of the year and I thought 2023 would be a down year for her. But she apparently got serious about her work finally and at DOHA looked like the player of old. She was hitting her spots and serving much better. I’d like a report on what she’s been doing differently in her training. Does she have the same coach?
James Schrupp, after the Australian Open Swiatek said that the weight of expectations messed with her head, so her aim was to control that. She has apparently successfully shifted her mindset. Speaking about her disappointing result in Melbourne, Swiatek said:
“I felt like I took a step back in terms of how I approached this tournament and I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard, so I’m going to try and chill out a little bit more, that’s all. I felt the pressure and felt that I don’t want to lose instead of that I want to win.”