Iga Swiatek beat Elena Rybakina 7-6 (10-8) 6-2 to claim a third-successive Qatar Open title; the world No 1 came from a double-break down to win a 90-minute opening set;watch over 80 tournaments a year, including the US Open, exclusively live on Sky Sports Tennis
Saturday 17 February 2024 19:26, UK
Iga Swiatek came from behind to win an epic first set against Elena Rybakina before easing to a third successive Qatar Open title.
The world No 1 was a double-break down and also had to save a set point in a thrilling 90-minute first set before prevailing 7-6 (10-8) 6-2 in Doha.
Swiatek becomes the first player to win a WTA event for three years in a row since Serena Williams claimed successive Miami Open titles between 2013 and 2015.
"You don't even know how hard it was not to think about it," four-time Grandl Slam winner Swiatek said. "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."
Most had favoured Doha specialist Swiatek going into the match, but the 3-1 head-to-head record held by Rybakina suggested it would be anything but simple for the Polish player.
Any doubts about that were erased immediately when Rybakina drew several errors from Swiatek to break in the opening game, before seeing off a pair of break points on her own serve with brilliant winners to hold.
The first set looked all but done when Rybakina broke again with more clean hitting for a 4-1 lead, but a bizarre moment would change the course of the contest.
Serving at 30-15 in the sixth game, Rybakina's follow through saw her racket make contact with her shin, opening a wound which required a few minutes of treatment at the end of the point, which she lost with an unforced error.
The break allowed Swiatek to have a lengthy courtside exchange with her coach, who she would later credit with offering crucial guidance.
Another Rybakina error followed upon the resumption, and an accurate return from Swiatek sealed a break that put her back in the set.
Rybakina rediscovered her focus to bring up a chance to restore the double break, but Swiatek saw it off before breaking again in the next game to make it 4-4.
Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, broke for a 6-5 lead and the chance to serve out the set, but was undone by some remarkable Swiatek defence, which meant a tie-break was required.
The tie-break was somehow even more dramatic, with mini-breaks regularly exchanged until Swiatek brought up the first two set points at 6-4.
Rybakina won three points in a row to create a set point of her own, but Swiatek responded with a backhand winner to stay in it.
Another chance came and went for the world No 1, before she finally chased down a tentative Rybakina volley and put away a passing shot to end the remarkable set.
"I was just making too many mistakes and I was kind of panicking at the beginning not knowing what I should change," Swiatek told Sky Sports Tennis.
"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."
With both players having expended so much energy, there was a fear that Rybakina, having spent almost three more hours on court during the tournament than Swiatek, who had a semi-final walkover, could begin to tire.
Additionally, the increasingly gusty winds in Doha were always more likely to trouble the taller and less agile Rybakina.
Both factors appeared to play a part as Swiatek grinded out a break for a 2-1 lead, before following it up with another one for 5-2 as the level of quality dropped off.
With Rybakina's resistance fading, Swiatek ended the match with her second championship point, putting away a high backhand volley to seal the win in two hours and 17 minutes.
"I just had to kind of accept that I'm going to make some mistakes, more than usual because for sure it was hard for us to sometimes put it in when the ball went crazy," Swiatek added.
"It was the same last year but this year was a little bit different because it was only today when it got so windy during my match. So I had to adjust quickly."
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