Three-time defending champ Iga Swiatek starts strong in Doha

Three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek of Poland rolled into the third round of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win Monday against Maria Sakkari of Greece.

The second-seeded Swiatek, who had a bye in the first round of the WTA 1000 event in Doha, trailed 3-2 in the first set before sweeping the next eight games to take control.

Swiatek is trying to become just the second woman in the 21st century to win a tournament four consecutive times after Caroline Wozniacki, who did so at New Haven from 2008-11.

"Every year it's different, every year there is a different story, so it's hard to compare and hard to find one thing that worked exactly," Swiatek said when asked to explain her success at the event.

"From what I remember it's not like I've been playing flawlessly, so it's not like these tournaments were perfect, but at some point always I found some solutions. I think the conditions here are pretty tricky, and I was patient enough to just keep focusing on my game."

Swiatek converted five of nine break points in the 82-minute match and awaits the winner between Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic and Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.

Canada's Leylah Fernandez also moved into the third round with a swift 6-2, 6-2 upset of No. 8 seed Emma Navarro in 66 minutes. Fernandez broke the American's serve five times and won 81 percent of the points (25 of 31) on her first serve.

The rest of the day's action involved first-round matches.

No. 10 Daria Kasatkina blitzed fellow Russian Polina Kudermetova 6-0, 6-0 in just 42 minutes. Kudermetova saved only one of seven break points and won only 18 of the match's 68 points.

Noskova knocked off No. 15 Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-4 in a first-round match Monday. Noskova fired five aces and took advantage of four double faults by Vekic in the 74-minute win.

Ons Jabeur of Tunisia defeated McCartney Kessler 6-2, 6-0. Peyton Stearns was a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska. Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko cruised 6-2, 6-1 over Japan's Aoi Ito. Sofia Kenin eliminated Ashlyn Krueger 6-4, 6-4. Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia advanced 6-2, 6-3 over Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina.

Only two matches went three sets. Poland's Magda Linette rallied for a 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 win over Russia's Veronika Kudermetova. Putintseva held off Japan's Moyuka Uchijima 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 in two hours and 29 minutes.

--Field Level Media