Iga Swiatek emulates Serena Williams by reaching three consecutive finals at the WTA Qatar Open

The current World No.1 will face Elena Rybakina in the summit clash.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has another achievement to her name. The Pole is the first player since Serena Williams to reach three consecutive singles finals in a single WTA hard court event by reaching the Qatar Open 2024 final. Serena Williams achieved the same feat at the Australian Open between 2015-2017. Swiatek reached the finals of the 2022 and 2023 editions here, winning both.

Karolina Pliskova withdrew from their semi-final match on Friday, hampered by a lower back injury. No. 3 seed and defending champion Elena Rybakina will join Swiatek in the summit clash after a 6-2, 6-4 win over World No. 32 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Rybakina is now in her third final of 2024 and second of the month.

3 – Following Karolina Pliskova's withdrawal, Iga Swiatek has become the first player to make three consecutive finals in a single hard court WTA event (Doha 2021-2023) since Serena Williams at the Australian Open (2015-17). Splendid.#QatarTotalEnergiesOpen | @WTA_insider @WTA pic.twitter.com/d6VjX3UQAI

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) February 16, 2024

She reached the final of the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi prior to arriving in Doha, taking the trophy with a straight set win over Daria Kasatkina. Swiatek defeated the two-time champion at Doha, Victoria Azarenka, en route to the final.

Both players opened their campaigns with a first-round bye, and straight-set wins against Lin Zhu and Sorana Cirstea respectively. Rybakina defeated Zhu 6-2, 6-1, and Swiatek got the better of Cirstea with a commanding 6-1, 6-1 win.

The Pole is a win away in Doha from emulating Serena Williams, who was the last player to win a single event for three consecutive years at Miami from 2013-2015.

The final match between World No.1 Iga Swiatek and No.4 Elena Rybakina will decide who will take home the trophy of the season’s first WTA 1000 event. Swiatek is in line for her 12th consecutive win in Doha and is on an 11-match streak at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex.

Rybakina is on an eight-match winning streak in 2024 and is 3-0 in head-to-head records against Swiatek in 2023. Two of the three matches in 2023 ended in two sets in Rybakina’s favour. The wins came in Rome, Indian Wells and Melbourne. The Kazakh has also won 15 of her last 17 matches since the 2024 season got underway.

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