“I always considered myself a court clay player” Iga Swiatek happy with her progress on hardcourts after winning in Doha
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Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek‘s victory at the WTA-1000 Qatar Open 2022 in Doha not only brought her second career WTA-1000 title but also saw her rise 4 places to reach her career-high rank of World No. 4 once again. The win in Doha was Iga’s first title of the season having reached the semi-finals in two tournaments earlier but failed to make her way to the finals.
Iga started her season at the WTA-500 Adelaide International 2022 where she was defeated by World No. 1 and eventual champion Ash Barty in the semi-finals. The Pole next played at the 2022 Australian Open where she reached the semi-finals in Melbourne Park for the first time but lost in the semis once again to eventual runner-up Danielle Collins this time.
After a shocking 2nd round exit from the WTA-500 Dubai Tennis Championships 2022 to eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko in a heated match, a lot was depending for Iga at the Qatar Open as she stood a chance to slip out from the Top-10. But the 2020 French Open champion was absolutely flawless during the tournament conceding just 1 set throughout and dropping 2 bagels during the run including her win in the finals against Anett Kontaveit, defeating the Estonian 6-2, 6-0.
“It’s kind of overwhelming because I didn’t expect to have such a great level of tennis week by week on hard court. I always considered myself, as people actually told, a clay court player. I was improving on hard court, but for sure this season my progress is faster. It’s so nice to have these kinds of matches where you don’t have actually problems with, you know, keeping the pace and with staying aggressive.
“Because right now I’m the more aggressive player, and I really love it, because it’s giving me a lot of confidence on and off-court. It’s just making sometimes life on court easier,” said Iga, as reported by Tennisuptodate.com, after picking her biggest hardcourt title so far in her short career which was also her 4th career title.
Iga Swiatek sets eye on another WTA-1000 title
Iga will return to action at the two WTA-1000 events scheduled in March, the Indian Wells Open followed by the Miami Open. Iga lost in the final qualifying round of Indian Wells in 2019 and had to wait till 2021 to make her main-draw debut as the 2020 edition was cancelled. In the revised schedule of the 2021 Indian Wells, Swiatek reached the 4th round losing to Ostapenko.
Iga had an outdoor hardcourt record of 18-10 in the 2021 season and she is already 14-3 on the surface this season. Having made this fantastic start, a good run during her month-long stay in the USA can surely be expected from the Polish No. 1.
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Sarthak Shitole
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