“Iga is a great champion,” Elena Rybakina vary of the Iga Swiatek challenge as she gears up to play against her in Doha final

Elena Rybakina has already won two titles in 2024.

“Iga is a great champion,” Elena Rybakina vary of the Iga Swiatek challenge as she gears up to play against her in Doha final

Elena Rybakina (L), Iga Swiatek (R) (Sources: Tennis World USA, Acef)

Elena Rybakina defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets to reach the final of the 2024 Doha Open, where she will now face Iga Swiatek.

The Kazakh player has had a great season so far and has already won two tournaments in 2024 (Brisbane International and Abu Dhabi Open). If she manages to defeat World No. 1, she might as well win her third trophy of the year, and it’s just February. 

Rybakina has had a great run so far in the Doha Open as well. She has just lost one set so far in the entire tournament, and that was against Emma Navarro in the second round. 

She defeated Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinal and Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinal. She will now look to have a similar result against Iga Swiatek as well, but her main goal right now is to recover well before the final. 

Well first I will try to recover. Today was a tough match. I played so many matches also before so the most important is to recover. Iga is a great champion. It’s gonna be very difficult. I’ll try to enjoy and do as much as I can tomorrow.
Elena Rybakina said. 

Iga Swiatek has had a similarly great campaign in the Doha Open so far. Her 6-4, 6-0 win against Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinal was particularly impressive. 

She won the semifinal courtesy of a walkover, though. The Pole is also eagerly looking to win her first trophy of the season after a disappointing performance in the 2024 Australian Open. 

Elena Rybakina vs. Iga Swiatek: Head-to-head record 

Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek have played a total of four matches against each other, and Kazakh has a great record against the World No. 1. 

Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina
Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina (Source: The Independent)

She has won three out of those matches, while Swiatek has only won one. Two of those wins came in 2023 at the Australian Open and Indian Wells, respectively. Before that, she had defeated Swiatek in the Ostrava Open back in 2021. 

Swiatek’s only victory against Elena Rybakina came in the 2023 Italian Open, when Rybakina had to retire. Thus, Elena Rybakina is the favorite to win the final on Saturday, not only based on her record against the Pole but also her current form. 

If she wins this tournament, Rybakina might take a break and shift her focus directly towards Indian Wells, which is set to start in March 2024.

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