Iga Świątek Wins Qatar Open Title for Third Consecutive Year
This was the first title the WTA's Number 1 player has won in 2024 so far.
Two-time defending champion Iga Świątek, 22, of Poland defeated Elena Rybakina, 24, of Kazakhstan to win the Women’s Singles title at the 2024 Qatar Open in Doha, Qatar (a WTA 1000 event). The score in the final was 7-6 (10-8 tiebreaker) and 6-2 in favor of Świątek.
This was the fifth match Rybakina and Świątek have played against each other on the WTA Tour - with Rybakina leading their prior meetings 3-1. This was the first time the two have contested a final against each other. Today’s victory is the first title Świątek has won on the 2024 WTA Tour and the eighteenth title of her career in single’s competition.
Heading into this tournament, Świątek was ranked as the Number 1 tennis player on the 2024 WTA Tour, while Rybakina carried the Number 4 designation. By winning in Doha, Świątek has received 1,000 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Rybakina has picked up 650 points.
With this victory, Świątek now becomes the first player to win the Qatar Open three times. She has also done so in consecutive years. Moreover, the eight quarterfinalists in this year’s main draw all previously contested a Grand Slam final. The last time this feat occurred this century was also in Doha, during the 2013 Qatar Open.
The competition allowed the top eight seeds to advance directly to the second round - which applied to both Świątek and Rybakina. Świątek arrived in the final after winning against Sorana Cîrstea of Romania (No. 22), Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia (No. 19), Victoria Azarenka of Belarus (No. 31), and Karolína Plíšková of the Czech Republic (No. 59).
In the other half of the main draw, Rybakina defeated Zhu Lin of China (No. 57), Emma Navarro of the United States (No. 23), Leylah Fernandez of Canada (No. 38), and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia (No. 32). Notably, both finalists only played one seeded player each before the championship.
The revised rankings for the 2024 WTA Tour will be officially released on Monday, February 19. The tour will then play one tournament between February 18 and 24: the Dubai Tennis Championships in Dubai, UAE (a WTA 1000 event). The event will be played on hard courts.
Barbora Krejčíková of the Czech Republic (No. 12) is the tournament’s reigning champion. However, she has withdrawn from the main draw this year with a back injury. Instead, the top seeds are Świątek and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus (No. 2).