Preview Women’s Qatar Open featuring Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff
WTA
The Qatar Open will be the next major tournament bringing together the world's best players, led by Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Coco Gauff. The only top-10 player missing will be the recent Australian Open champion, Madison Keys, who has decided to take precautions regarding her return after an intense start to the season. She will be back on court in a week.
The defending champion is Swiatek, who begins an important stretch of point defense over the next few months. She needs to retain the title if she doesn’t want to lose sight of World No. 1 Sabalenka in the race for the top spot.
Sabalenka, Swiatek, and Gauff lead the field
Just like last year, Sabalenka and Swiatek headline opposite halves of the draw, but both are expected to face tough matches from the start. The top eight seeds receive a first-round bye, so they will wait to learn their opponents. Sabalenka could face 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu (who debuts against Ekaterina Alexandrova), while Swiatek could meet Maria Sakkari, who takes on a qualifier in her opening match.
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Other seeded players facing a potentially tough start include 2024 Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen. After a disappointing second-round exit at the Australian Open—and failing to defend her runner-up points from last year—she lost a significant number of ranking points and is playing just her second tournament of the year. Ons Jabeur could be her first opponent, but the Tunisian must first overcome American McCartney Kessler.
Meanwhile, 8th seed Emma Navarro could face former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, who is in strong form and plays a qualifier in her opener.
While the top seeds won’t be in action for the first couple of days, the opening round already promises high-level clashes. Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin —who received a wildcard — faces the in-form Ashlyn Krueger, who seems poised for a breakout season after reaching her first WTA 500 final at just 20 years old.
Another all-American clash sees Amanda Anisimova take on former World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, while 9th seed Paula Badosa debuts as a top-10 player against Czech Katerina Siniakova.
Additionally, 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova will continue searching for her best form as she faces former World No. 3 Elina Svitolina, who had an impressive Australian Open campaign, reaching the quarterfinals.
Notable absentees—besides World No. 7 Madison Keys—include Danielle Collins (No. 12), two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova (No. 14), and her compatriot Karolina Muchova (No. 17).
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- Bencic is all business right now. If Rybakina is the ice queen, then Bencic is Antarctica—colder, sharper, and seemingly unstoppable. 🔥❄️MrAndreeva07-02-2025
- Creepy.
mandoist07-02-2025 - Ouch!!mandoist07-02-2025
- they need to change the rules on the WTA to limit wildcards more effectively like they have on the ATPSososo06-02-2025
- This is just getting beyond ridiculous!! Not to mention unsportsmanlike and unfair to serious up & coming contenders.mandoist06-02-2025
- No, writer, we were not "stunned". If you knew your business you would have been aware of her statement last weekend re: her knee and retirement. The main take-away here is that Simona went out on her own terms. She surely wanted to play again after WTA & ITIA screwed her out of her final productive seasons. Personally, I believed she was going to make this announcement when I saw the President and his family in their box seats. Good for Simone -- now she can move on to other things as she said she would.mandoist04-02-2025
- It sounds seriously absurd that in Davis Cup, (unlike Grand Slams such as the Aus Open), medical time outs off court with the medical staff are not allowed?? I mean, if this was an Aus Open match, and the same thing happened to Gurin then, he would have been able to go off court for official medical time out and make an informed decision whether to resume the match or retire. How come such conditions do not apply in Davis Cup?? I mean, there with Davis Cup, it is even more like a soccer match or basketball game in that teams are playing. And so as with those, it ought to be the case in tennis that if a player needs serious medical time out, then one of the other team mates ought to substitute and each team needs to have stand-ins or understudies in case substitution is needed which will be rare but as we can see here, this kind of circumstance fits. But even if the teams do not go down the road of subbing other team mates in, in case of a health issue like the one which played out here, at least, as in the Aus Open and other Grand Slams, there ought to be time-outs with the health professionals and at the conclusion of these time-outs, the particular decision that has been reached between them and the player needs to be taken on board by the umpire. PERIOD.
Sueiyin04-02-2025 - "If Novak did this, he would be defaulted for life. WTF." 🤣 WTF sounds like What Tennis Fury?! What Tennis Flurry??! I mean, se-rious-ly, it was actually the unfairness of the silly umpire's decision that is the issue here! Further, how come it was Gurin & his team who got disqualified? If this kind of thing happens in soccer, it would be the other guy getting the yellow or red card! Because after all, it was the Belgian who's foul it was so why then penalize the opponents for something they didn't instigate? Fouls in both basketball and soccer are read as a hinderance that has been caused by the player who INITIALLY instigated the hinderance. In this case, okay, it is tennis, but while the precise rules are different to either soccer or basketball, the same type of recognition as to whoever instigates a hinderance should apply, and in this case, it was the Belgian player.Sueiyin04-02-2025
- Medvedev talking to his form here. "Some actual deep problem." 🤣😂🤣MrAndreeva03-02-2025
- "Hopefully, the team around her will help... " Actually, the lack thereof seems to have been part of the problem(s). Another possibility is that, while dealing with legitimate surgeries, withdrawing, and otherwise passing on events, the competition has stepped-up in intensity while she was busy with traveling, photo shoots, and TV commercials.mandoist03-02-2025
