Sabalenka wins in Doha final

On her debut at the Qatar Total Open in Doha, ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka went all the way to the title by beating 2018 tournament champion and eighth seed Petra Kvitova (6:3, 6:3) in Saturday’s final. It’s the Belarusian’s second consecutive Premier 5 title.

After a first-round bye at the Qatar Total Open, Sabalenka edged past Anett Kontaveit (7:5, 2:6, 7:5) in the second-round match which featured 12 breaks of serve, then dropped serve just once and won 63% of return points to ease past Maria Sakkari in the third round (6:3, 6:0), came within three points of defeat before beating Zheng Saisai in the quarterfinals ( 3:6, 7:6, 6:3), and won four out of five break points in semifinal victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova (6:4, 6:3).

After the decisive meeting, the Belarusian noted that she is playing in memory of her father, who passed away early in November 2019.

The Doha champion’s trophy is ensuring Sabalenka’s rise from No.13 to No.11 in the WTA rankings and this is the sixth championship title at tournaments.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has congratulated tennis player Aryna Sabalenka on her beautiful victory at the Premier tournament in Doha, Qatar.

Press service of the NOC Belarus

Photo by WTA