Iga Swiatek powered into the third spherical of the Qatar Open on Monday by brushing apart Maria Sakkari in straight units to kick off her bid for a fourth straight title in Doha.
The five-time Grand Slam champion overcame a sluggish begin to win 6-3, 6-2.
The Polish star, who was given a one-month doping ban late final 12 months, is taking part in for the primary time since dropping within the Melbourne semifinals to eventual champion Madison Keys.
World quantity two Swiatek will subsequent face both Kazakh Yulia Putintseva or Czech teenager Linda Noskova within the final 16.
The 23-year-old has not dropped a set on the Qatar Open since her second-round win over Viktorija Golubic in 2022.
Swiatek’s victory within the event final 12 months was her first of 4 WTA 1000 titles in 2024, taking her whole tally to 10, the equal most amongst present gamers with Victoria Azarenka.
READ | WTA Mumbai Open 2025: Jil Teichmann triumphs over Mananchaya Sanwangkaew to carry title
Former world quantity three Sakkari took three successive video games to maneuver a break up within the first set, however couldn’t get on the board once more till the fifth recreation of the second.
Greek Sakkari saved a match level en path to a maintain of serve to make it 5-2, however Swiatek secured victory on her personal function her opponent fired a return broad.
Earlier, the 20-year-old Noskova notched a formidable 6-2, 6-4 win over fifteenth seed Donna Vekic within the first spherical, whereas Putintseva edged out Moyuka Uchijima in three units.
Russian tenth seed Daria Kasatkina demolished Polina Kudermetova 6-0, 6-0 in simply 42 minutes to arrange a last-32 tie with Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan.
Jelena Ostapenko additionally cruised into spherical two, beating Japanese qualifier Aoi Ito 6-2, 6-1.