(Tennis news) Having successfully defended her title at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, Iga Swiatek began her Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in dominant fashion, winning against former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez 6-1 6-1 in 72 minutes. The result means that Swiatek will now face Liudmila Samsonova in the next match after the Russian received a walkover in the first round when her opponent Zheng Qinwen was forced to pull out of their contest due to abdominal pain.

Speaking after the match, Iga Swiatek said “It wasn’t that easy for sure. It was much tougher than the score said. In the second set, I needed to go a level up. I didn’t have much time to get used to the conditions, but I’m just happy I could play solid tennis.” In other results, Aryna Sabalenka extended her winning streak to 12-0 after a 6-0 6-1 win over Lauren Davis. “I want more. Motivation, this is the word. More motivation to work hard, just to feel it again,” Sabalenka said.

“I think the only [reason] I won the Australian Open is because I was focusing on myself. I didn’t really think about all the expectations, all the things happening around, this is a Grand Slam, all this stuff. I was just telling myself that I have to bring my level on court, I have a lot of chances to win the match. So, yeah, I’ll just try to focus on myself.” Czech Karolina Pliskova defeated world No 7 Maria Sakkari 6-1 6-2 in 69 minutes while Madison Keys caused an upset by overcoming Caroline Garcia 7-5 6-4. In another result, Swiss star Belinda Bencic beat Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 in three hours and 27 minutes.

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