Swiatek kicks off Doha tournament with win over Sakkari

Iga Swiatek knows she'll be in Qatar. The three-time defending champion of the Doha tournament, the world number 2 is hoping to bounce back from her Australian Open semi-final defeat by Madison Keys, despite having won a match point in the deciding set.

Exempted from the first round, the Pole made her first appearance against Maria Sakkari, who defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round on Sunday.

The Greek is a player who hasn't always succeeded for Swiatek, as the world No.29 had won her first three encounters with the Pole.

Since then, the latter has levelled the match at 3-3. In an indecisive opening game, Sakkari took her opponent's serve to lead 3 games to 2.

But then Swiatek woke up and scored eight consecutive games to quickly take the lead. With a double break in hand in the second set, Swiatek managed to hold on and win for the 13th time in a row in the Qatari capital (6-3, 6-2 in 1h21).

She will now face either Yulia Putintseva or Linda Noskova for a place in the quarter-finals.

"Maria is an excellent player and I have a lot of respect for her. We've played a lot of important matches against each other.

Playing her here in the second round wasn't easy. To be honest, I've always had tough draws here, the draw is very tough.

You can play a player who's won a Grand Slam in the first round. I was ready from the outset to put up a good fight, that's for sure," Swiatek said on court after her success.