WTA Doha - Final: Aryna Sabalenka wins against Petra Kvitova
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka won the WTA Premier 5 tournament in Doha.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Feb 29, 2020, 06:21 pm
In the final, she beat Petra Kvitova 6: 3, 6: 3, celebrating her sixth tournament victory on the WTA tour - and the third Premier 5 title.
The 21-year-old impressed with a strong service: 78 percent of the first serves came into the field, and 73 percent made the point afterwards. The only critical scene for Sabalenka: the 1-2 in the second set when she had to fend off five break chances. Kvitova, who had to take a short break afterwards, finally lost her service game to 3: 4 to zero - the decision.
Sabalenka on coach Tursunov: "crazy guy"
In the previous week Sabalenka resumed her on / off coaching relationship with ex-professional Dmitry Tursunov, who of course was still in the pits today. "He's a crazy guy like me," Sabalenka said with a grin at the award ceremony. Somehow you go well together, "and there are still a few things we want to improve together." And if she could now ask something in front of everyone - whether he could be a little calmer, "not so super crazy"?
Sabalenka wants to become more constant
During the Dubai week, Sabalenka had already spoken about her goals with the ex-professional (Tursunov was number 20 in the world in 2006). There was a lot of talk about her tennis and that she didn't have to hit every ball as hard as she could. "Sometimes you just have to stay in the rallies and show patience. And don't beat too much," she said. Plus / minus 15 km / h would not matter and they would not have to waste as much energy with every stroke. It is now about improving their constancy.
Aryna Sabalenka will rise to 11th place in the new world rankings with her Doha victory on Monday. Her best performance so far was 9th, which she had a good year ago, but then had a mixed season. It now seems to be reckoning with her at the big tournaments in 2020.