Iga Świątek won the tournament in the capital of Qatar in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Now she is also a favorite. He feels very confident at the courts in Dosze. How much – we saw in her match with Maria Sakkari.
The first performance of the Polish woman in this year's WTA 1000 tournament in Dosze began as expected. Świątek won her service game, then broke her rival and went out to lead 2: 0. And suddenly something happened that more sensitive fans probably paid for with an accelerated heartbeat. Here in just a few minutes with 2: 0 for Świątek it got 3: 2 for Sakkari. And the Greek had a service.
Świątek was wrong. And it is as standard. “Part of the strategy”
It did not “do” alone. Sakkari played well, she was very brave, and Iga tennis suddenly fell apart. Mainly thanks to the mistakes of a Polish woman, Greczynka recorded a return break to 1: 2. Only thanks to the unforced mistakes of Świątek, Sakkari leveled at 2: 2 – in this game the Polish woman was mistaken for Bekhend four times in a row, theoretically from her more reliable side.
“Another unsuccessful Return, but you can see that Iga has its own plan. This obviously involves unforced mistakes, especially since this is the first match and you have to get used to the conditions. And the Greek has the first confrontation behind her – explained the commenting match in Canal+ Sport Joanna Sakowicz-Kostecka.
The former tennis player emphasized that Świątek in the cost of offensive playing includes her own mistakes. “This is definitely part of the strategy. You have to be consistent, do not be discouraged by failures. Especially in the first match in the tournament”-emphasized Sakowicz-Kostecka.
It's hard to disagree. Every now and then we accuse Iga that there is no plan B, but we rarely notice that there is no need to go to Plan B, since he is sure that Plan A. will work in a moment.
Before this happened, Iga lost two dry games from Sakkari, to zero. But after nine losers in a row, Świątek simply began to win in the world.
Abramowicz and Fissette knew that Świątek would stand it
Iga calibrated, lowered his position, and when she works low on his feet, he is less often wrong. The longer this match lasted, the better the Polish woman felt. All fans have seen this, who more and more often rewarded great actions with Iga with applause.
From 2: 3 in the first set of Świątek quickly came out 6: 3. And the second party began with a rapid breaking of the rival and from increasing the lead to 6: 3, 2: 0. At that time, the Wim Fissette and Daria Abramowicz showed to us by the transmission implementer, they looked absolutely calm. But in fact, in the crisis moments of Iga, her trainer and her psychologist really exchanged attention without much emotion. As if they knew perfectly well that Iga only needs some time to feel good on the court.
Sakkari had more time because she played in Dosze on Sunday and defeated Romanian Ruse. She didn't have a skewer because she had a free fate in the first round. But half a set was enough for wiping. Sakkari is a good tennis player – today she is 29 in the WTA ranking, and it used to be even third. Iga had a balance sheet with her so far a draw, 3: 3. Once Greek was even a bane of Polish women – their first three duels won. But today this opponent was not able to stop Iga when Iga has already accelerated.
“She just didn't panic.” That's all the holiday was enough
Sakowicz emphasized during the second set that the key was that Świątek trusted her resources when she had a difficult moment. “Iga simply did not panic,” said the commentator. And she wondered if we, the viewers, in a difficult moment of the Polish women were so calm. Well, we were certainly not. Anyway, Sakowicz-Kostecka herself with a result of 2: 3 said this: “Iga tried to be offensive, but it is the time to let down a bit.”
Świątek did not let down in the tone – she did her job. It was not the first time that she was not panicing in more difficult times. Probably some of the fans will not agree with this. When Iga lost to Madison Keys in the Australian Open semi -final, there were many such voices that our tennis player could not mentally managed. But that's not true. The American played brilliantly in that match in Melbourne. And the Polish woman survived the most difficult moment – after pouring in the second set (1: 6) she returned and fought wonderfully. She even had a matchbol. She did not use it, and earlier at another important moment she made a double service error. But this happens to everyone when they go to a sharp exchange of blows with a rival. Who watched the clash of Hubert Hurkacz with Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final of the tournament in Rotterdam on Saturday, he probably remembers that even Carlitos lost the tie-break of the second party, including by a double service error. This happened to him when running 5-4. Then he had two websites, theoretically he had everything to close the match. He didn't do it, you had to play the third set.
But let's go back to Christmas and doha. The match against Sakkari was a really good, valuable entrance for Iga in the tournament, and for us it was a lesson. This is a lesson to appreciate how a Polish woman works. In the third round Iga's rival will be either Czech Noskova or Kazaszka Putincew.