Swiatek begins her impossible dream in Doha

Iga Swiatek began her quest for a fourth consecutive title at the WTA Doha event as the former No. 1 reached the third round 6-3, 6-2 on Monday over Maria Sakkari.

Swiatek could become only the second woman to win the same event four years in a row, with Caroline Wozniacki dominating at the former tournament in New Haven 2008-2011.

The five-time Grand Slam champion had to work to get past Sakkari from Greece, coming from a break down at 2-3 in the opening set and sweeping eight straight games to establish superiority. before advancing at the Gulf 1000 tournament on her second match point.

The win in 83 minutes marked the 14th out of 15 in Doha for Swiatek, second seed behind world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

But the Pole warned: “It’s not like I’ve been playing flawlessly (here over the years).

“It’s not like these tournaments were perfect, I always found some solutions.The conditions (can be) pretty tricky, and I was patient enough to just keep focusing on my game.”

She added: “Every year it’s different, every year there is a different story, so it’s hard to compare and hard to find one thing that worked exactly.”

 Swiatek is eight months removed from her last title, a third straight at Roland Garros and one of even she collected last season while still losing the top ranking to Sabalenka.

In other day 2 results, Tunisian Ons Jabeur thrilled a Middle east crowd with a 6-2, 6-0 hammering of McCartney Kessler of the US in less than an hour.Former No. 2 Jabeur has broken tennis ground for Arabs, reaching a career high second in the world and twice a quarter-finalist in the Gulf state.

Elina Svitolina set up a match with sixth seed Jessica Pegula after defeating former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova 0-6, 6-2, 7-5 in just under two hours.

Svitolina rallied from a bagel opening set loss and came form a break down in the third to complete her overhaul of the Czech.