Week in Review: Swiatek's Doha dominance kicks off 2024's WTA 1000 events

The first WTA 1000 event of 2024 is officially in the books, where World No.1 Iga Swiatek prevailed at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, continuing her Doha dominance.

Swiatek came back from 4-1 down and saved a set point before collecting a 7-6(6), 6-2 triumph over World No.4 Elena Rybakina in Saturday's final. It was Swiatek's first title of the year, and it should come as no surprise she started her 2024 winning ways there.

The top seed's Doha numbers are staggering. Swiatek has won three straight titles, 12 straight matches, and 23 straight sets at the event. Her career win-loss record in Doha is a nearly perfect 13-1, with her only loss coming to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 2020 second round.

With her third Doha title in a row, Swiatek became the first player to win a WTA event three straight times since Serena Williams captured the Miami Open in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

"Coming here and being kind of the double-defending champion wasn't easy," Swiatek said after defending her title. "So I'm happy that I have this experience already, and hopefully I'm going to use it."

With that experience under her belt, Swiatek has two more opportunities to pull off three-peats this year, both in the clay-court swing -- at Stuttgart and Roland Garros.

Honor Roll

Elena Rybakina: Rybakina fell one match short of becoming the first player to win three titles in 2024, but she still became the tour leader in match-wins this season. Rybakina has won 15 matches so far this year, surpassing second-place Jelena Ostapenko's 14.

Rybakina said the last two weeks, where she won the Abu Dhabi title and finished runner-up in Doha, "passed very quick, I have to say, but I think [Doha] was successful week for me no matter the result of today. Really happy with all the matches I played and proud of what we have done."

Karolina Pliskova: Another recent marathon woman is former World No.1 Pliskova, who won nine matches in a 10-day span. She claimed the Cluj-Napoca title a week ago, then made an overnight journey to Doha, where she grinded into the semifinals with four lengthy victories.

Over the last two weeks, Pliskova has posted some of her top results of late. Cluj-Napoca was her first title since January of 2020, and by reaching the final four in Doha, she made consecutive WTA semifinals for the first time since 2021.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova: One of a number of high-profile comebacks over the past year, Pavlyuchenkova's has been extremely successful. She played only three events in 2022 and fell to as low as No.846 in early 2023, but surged back into the Top 60 by year's end.

By backing up her Linz semifinal with a run to the Doha semifinals, she also made the semifinals at consecutive tournaments for the first time since 2021. Additionally, she beat two Top 20 players at the same event for the first time since her 2021 Roland Garros finalist showing.

Naomi Osaka: Another comeback hit a high point in Doha, with new mom Osaka making her first WTA quarterfinal since she reached the Miami Open final in March of 2022.

Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani: Doubles experts Schuurs and Stefani teamed up for the very first time at the 2024 Australian Open, and made the quarterfinals at the year's first major. Now they have a WTA 1000 title and an 8-1 win-loss record after taking home the Doha trophy.

Shots of the Week

Naomi Osaka found pristine power and placement in her second-round victory over Petra Martic:

And Karolina Pliskova brought what she called the "shot of my life" to her quarterfinal win over Osaka:

Quote of the Week

"I wouldn't say, like, one tournament is a specific goal for me, because at the end, I was proud of each of my seasons no matter which tournament I won or what happened. You're just happy that you can overcome obstacles and work hard. Sometimes the titles are more for Wikipedia than for you, but this season, I'm just taking it easy step by step and week by week."

-- Iga Swiatek, after winning the 18th WTA singles title of her career in Doha

Photo of the Week

Former World No.1 Naomi Osaka kept her focus in Doha, returning to a tour-level quarterfinal for the first time since her maternity leave:

Notable Numbers

25: This week in Doha, Iga Swiatek won her seventh WTA 1000 title in just her 25th WTA 1000 appearance. Since the WTA 1000 tier was introduced in 2009, only Serena Williams has won seven WTA 1000 titles in fewer appearances, hitting that number in her 22nd WTA 1000 showing.

16: Lesia Tsurenko notched her first Top 10 win in over five years when she ousted Ons Jabeur in the Doha second round. Between her 2019 Brisbane win over Naomi Osaka and this week's victory over Jabeur, Tsurenko had lost 16 straight matches against Top 10 opposition.

3: Victoria Azarenka is 5-0 lifetime against Jelena Ostapenko and has already defeated her three times this year, including a 6-0, 6-3 dismissal to reach the Doha quarterfinals. In 2024, Ostapenko is 0-3 against Azarenka and 14-0 against the rest of her opponents.

22: By reaching the quarterfinals, two-time champion Azarenka grabbed her 22nd career match-win in Doha. That ties Petra Kvitova for the most career match-wins at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open since the tournament's inception in 2001.

140: Elena Rybakina led the tournament in winners with 140. It is the most winners Rybakina has hit in a single tournament so far this year.

Next Up

Another week, another WTA 1000 event -- the Middle East swing wraps up with the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Main-draw play started on Sunday.

Dubai: Draws, dates, prize money and everything you need to know

In Dubai, all of the world's Top 4 players -- Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina -- will contest the same event for the first time since the Australian Open.