World No 8. Aryna Sabalenka has reasons to be quietly confident of a rare Doha double.
The Belarusian is the defending champion at the Qatar Total Open at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, having beaten former champion Petra Kvitova in the final last year. She then won two more titles last year — Ostrava and Linz — after the Covid-19 pandemic-enforced break on the Tour.
When the new season began in January, the Minsk-born player won the title in Abu Dhabi, her ninth overall. It’s safe to say that form is on her side in her bid to win the WTA 500 Premier tournament in the Qatari capital for the second straight year.
Last time there were not many expectations from Sabalenka, but this time despite being the defending champions she is not feeling anything different.
“I don’t feel any different. I came here for some great matches, for the great fight. Yeah, I'm the defending champion but I still feel there is nothing to lose, and, yeah, I’ll just go for it and do everything I can. So it’s not a big difference compared to last year,” said Sabalenka, who was on a 15-match winning streak before Estonian Kaia Kanepi halted the 22-year-old in an Australian Open warm-up tournament in Melbourne last month.
Sabalenka is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her compatriot Victoria Azarenka, who she had beaten for the title in Ostrava, to become only the third woman to successfully defend the title in Doha. Azarenka accomplished the feat in 2012 and 2013, while Russian Anastasia Myskina had done so back in 2003 and 2004. The Golden Falcon trophy has also been lifted twice by Russia’s Maria Sharapova (2005 and 2008).
The promising Belarusian, who is known for her attacking style of tennis, had a couple of practice sessions here and is pretty comfortable with the conditions.
“I’m really happy to be here. It’s actually my favourite place to play. The conditions are still the same. It’s a little bit windy. It’s cool weather. Its great courts. The conditions are pretty good, I would say, like last year. And I’m really, really happy to be here and have this opportunity to compete here again,” the 22-year-old said.
While past achievements and experience may not automatically lend themselves to present success, there should also be plenty of optimism, given her significant success in both singles as well as doubles in recent times.
With three straight titles, 15 consecutive match wins and almost a Grand Slam breakthrough result (4-6, 6-2, 4-6 against Serena Williams at the Australian Open in the round of 16), coupled with her first doubles title in Melbourne, Sabalenka rose to a new career-high singles ranking of World No. 7 and doubles World No.1.
Looking back at her match against Williams at the Australian Open, where she had not dropped a set in the first three rounds, Sabalenka feels it was a missed opportunity.
“Honestly, I felt like I missed my opportunity because I feel like if you are coming back from 1-4 and you’re kind of feeling your game and you’re there, you’re fighting, you just have to take this opportunity. I felt like mentally I was a little bit up and she was down. Yeah, and also on the first set I didn't take my serve. Same situation in the third set,” Sabalenka elaborated.
“I would say it was like not really smart mistakes from me. Yeah, but it was a good experience. Because I never played against these kinds of champions like Serena. And going on the court, I was thinking ‘what's going to happen, how she's playing, what her power is and all this stuff’. Then I stepped on to the court and I understood, like, ‘wow, actually I can play her, I can beat her’. Yeah, I would say, I missed my opportunity. Definitely, I had it.”
Now she wants to focus more on singles to take her game to another level.
“This is actually what we are kind of thinking with my team, and that’s why we are trying to stop playing doubles at the Grand Slams and we’re trying to play less tournaments the week before the Grand Slam to make sure I can prepare myself better. And this is something that we are working on, like, trying to bring my level on the Grand Slams,” she said.
Sabalenka will start her campaign against two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza on Wednesday. The Spaniard defeated Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 7-6 in the first round on Tuesday.
The Belarusian is the defending champion at the Qatar Total Open at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, having beaten former champion Petra Kvitova in the final last year. She then won two more titles last year — Ostrava and Linz — after the Covid-19 pandemic-enforced break on the Tour.
When the new season began in January, the Minsk-born player won the title in Abu Dhabi, her ninth overall. It’s safe to say that form is on her side in her bid to win the WTA 500 Premier tournament in the Qatari capital for the second straight year.
Last time there were not many expectations from Sabalenka, but this time despite being the defending champions she is not feeling anything different.
“I don’t feel any different. I came here for some great matches, for the great fight. Yeah, I'm the defending champion but I still feel there is nothing to lose, and, yeah, I’ll just go for it and do everything I can. So it’s not a big difference compared to last year,” said Sabalenka, who was on a 15-match winning streak before Estonian Kaia Kanepi halted the 22-year-old in an Australian Open warm-up tournament in Melbourne last month.
Sabalenka is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her compatriot Victoria Azarenka, who she had beaten for the title in Ostrava, to become only the third woman to successfully defend the title in Doha. Azarenka accomplished the feat in 2012 and 2013, while Russian Anastasia Myskina had done so back in 2003 and 2004. The Golden Falcon trophy has also been lifted twice by Russia’s Maria Sharapova (2005 and 2008).
The promising Belarusian, who is known for her attacking style of tennis, had a couple of practice sessions here and is pretty comfortable with the conditions.
“I’m really happy to be here. It’s actually my favourite place to play. The conditions are still the same. It’s a little bit windy. It’s cool weather. Its great courts. The conditions are pretty good, I would say, like last year. And I’m really, really happy to be here and have this opportunity to compete here again,” the 22-year-old said.
While past achievements and experience may not automatically lend themselves to present success, there should also be plenty of optimism, given her significant success in both singles as well as doubles in recent times.
With three straight titles, 15 consecutive match wins and almost a Grand Slam breakthrough result (4-6, 6-2, 4-6 against Serena Williams at the Australian Open in the round of 16), coupled with her first doubles title in Melbourne, Sabalenka rose to a new career-high singles ranking of World No. 7 and doubles World No.1.
Looking back at her match against Williams at the Australian Open, where she had not dropped a set in the first three rounds, Sabalenka feels it was a missed opportunity.
“Honestly, I felt like I missed my opportunity because I feel like if you are coming back from 1-4 and you’re kind of feeling your game and you’re there, you’re fighting, you just have to take this opportunity. I felt like mentally I was a little bit up and she was down. Yeah, and also on the first set I didn't take my serve. Same situation in the third set,” Sabalenka elaborated.
“I would say it was like not really smart mistakes from me. Yeah, but it was a good experience. Because I never played against these kinds of champions like Serena. And going on the court, I was thinking ‘what's going to happen, how she's playing, what her power is and all this stuff’. Then I stepped on to the court and I understood, like, ‘wow, actually I can play her, I can beat her’. Yeah, I would say, I missed my opportunity. Definitely, I had it.”
Now she wants to focus more on singles to take her game to another level.
“This is actually what we are kind of thinking with my team, and that’s why we are trying to stop playing doubles at the Grand Slams and we’re trying to play less tournaments the week before the Grand Slam to make sure I can prepare myself better. And this is something that we are working on, like, trying to bring my level on the Grand Slams,” she said.
Sabalenka will start her campaign against two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza on Wednesday. The Spaniard defeated Russian Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 7-6 in the first round on Tuesday.
