For the first time all week, Iga Swiatek did not have things all her own way at the Qatar Open. Yet she did enough against Jessica Pegula to claim her first title of the season, and we all know how that one worked out last year. One down, five to go.
It remains to be seen whether Swiatek can now go on to repeat last year’s victories in Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome and Paris; as she has pointed out, it would be unreasonable to expect as much. But a 6-3, 6-0 win over Pegula, who stunned the Polish world No 1 in straight sets at the United Cup last month, seems a good place to start.
The contest, particularly in the early stages, was a good deal closer than the scoreline might suggest. Yet the fact remains that Swiatek retained the first of the six titles she won last spring for the loss of just five games. A quarter-final walkover helped, as the Pole acknowledged afterwards, but it is hard to recall a more definitive title defence.
Swiatek earns $120,150 for her troubles – $89,295 less than the men’s champion will make at the same venue next week, at an event worth half as many ranking points. Yet any sense of injustice she may feel over that disparity will be at least partly allayed by the knowledge that her earnings for the week equate to $4,143 per game. In any case, the greater value for Swiatek lies in the knowledge that, after her stumble against Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open, her season is belatedly up and running.
“I don’t care how many games I won or lost, I just feel like I really found my rhythm here,” said Swiatek. “After a tough beginning of the season I could really stay focused since the beginning of the matches, and I’m pretty happy with my performance.”
Swiatek’s focus in the heat of battle, where she has demolished a trio of pedigree opponents in Danielle Collins, Veronika Kudermetova and the fourth-ranked Pegula, was matched by her ability to see the bigger picture off the court. While all eyes were on how the 21-year-old would fare as she returned to the venue where last season’s extraordinary 37-match winning streak began, Swiatek’s mind was on a more significant milestone.
“I had a real throwback to last year,” she told the crowd afterwards. “This was the first tournament that I had a chance to make a speech when the war started in Ukraine. I feel like we all have pretty short memories, but we should all support Ukrainians in everything that they are coping with every day. It’s pretty disappointing that the situation is not changing. Hopefully they will stay strong.”
As both players struggled to come to terms with the blustery conditions that have blighted the business end of the tournament, the first set quickly developed into a dogfight. After a typically strong start by Swiatek, who held to love before securing an early break, the momentum began to switch back and forth, Pegula levelling at 2-2 before immediately falling behind again. A beautifully measured lob got the American back on serve for a second time at 3-4, but Swiatek made no mistake when a fifth break in eight games went her way, serving out the set to love.
Pegula, clearly exasperated by the wind, showed an uncharacteristic flash of irritation when she dropped serve again at the beginning of the second, dashing her racket into the ground, and although she conjured a magnificent, fading drop shot into the wind at the start of the next game, her defiance rapidly began to wane. Victory in the doubles alongside Coco Gauff, with whom she saw off Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 to retain the title on Friday, will no doubt be of greater consolation to Pegula than the knowledge that she was the only player able to keep Swiatek on court for more than an hour in the Qatari capital.
“It’s been an awesome week, a lot of great results, and I’m just really happy with all the work I got to put in this week,” said Pegula, who will move up a place to third in the rankings. “I came up a little bit short today.”
Most do against Swiatek, and it will be fascinating to see how she fares at the first WTA 1000 event of the season in Dubai next week, where she will begin the second leg of her sexpartite medley of title defences. As she observed afterwards, she will not want for confidence.
“At the beginning of this season it wasn’t easy for me for everything to click mentally, physically and tennis-wise,” said Swiatek. “But in this tournament I really felt like I’m in good shape, I just felt like I have more freedom on court.
“I’m pretty happy that I was disciplined and I kept my focus from the beginning until the end in the matches, and that I was really efficient. I think it’s going to give me a lot of confidence.”