“Can’t imagine it’s happening in the country next to me,” an emotional Iga Swiatek dedicates Qatar win to “suffering Ukraine”
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Iga Swaitik
Following a dominant performance this week, Polish tennis sensation Iga Swiatek won the 2022 Qatar Open title defeating fourth-seeded Estonian, Anett Kontaveit 6-2, 6-0. This was Iga’s second title in a WTA-1000 tournament having earlier won the 2021 Italian Open in Rome during the 2021 season when she defeated Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 to win her first WTA-1000 title.
With the whole world currently witnessing the armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia, messages in support of the Ukrainians have not stopped. Iga also shared her thoughts on the war that is going on in Ukraine and after her win, an emotional Iga dedicated her win to ‘the people who are suffering in Ukraine’.
“I want to show my support to all the people who are suffering in Ukraine. It’s pretty hard to say (sobs). Seeing those images is really emotional for me. I wouldn’t even, you know, imagine stuff like that happening in the country next to me. I hope everybody will be safe in the end ” said the 20-year old during her on-court interview.
Further, she also stressed how sports can connect people across borders and be a source of joy for everyone, despite everything which is dividing them. “I hope all of them can be safe and that sport is gonna connect and give us joy, despite all the things dividing us,” she said further.
Iga Swiatek’s dominant run in Doha
Iga defeated three top 10 players on her way to the title. Having received a bye in the first round, she was taken into the third set by Viktorija Golubic, the only time she dropped a set this week in Doha. She then went on to defeat Daria Kasatkina and Aryna Sabalenka to reach the semi-finals where she took on Maria Sakkari. Iga made easy work of Sakkari to reach the finals.
The manner in which she defeated Kontaveit, speaks volumes about her talent, as the Estonian arrived at the tournament in red-hot form and was appearing in her ninth final since the start of the 2021 season. After this dominant win, Iga will gain 3 spots to World No. 5 when the rankings are released next week.
Also Read: Iga Swiatek storms past Anett Kontaveit to clinch Qatar Open 2022 title
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Siddharth Kr Singh
(32 Articles Published)