Iga Swiatek said she felt “pretty confident” against Danielle Collins and noted that her game plan was not to allow the American to get into any type of rhythm. Swiatek, seeded at No 1, had a first-round bye in Doha before destroying 2022 Australian Open finalist Collins 6-0 6-1.
Swiatek and Collins were playing for the first time since the American beat the Pole 6-4 6-1 in the 2022 Australian Open semifinal. “[I felt] pretty confident. I’m happy that I was kind of composed and from the beginning till the end pretty focused and disciplined with tactics.
I didn’t really let Danielle get into the rhythm. I wanted to be aggressive. I’m pretty happy that I did that well,” Swiatek said, per the WTA website.
How Swiatek beat Collins?
Swiatek absolutely dominated the first set as not only that Collins didn’t have any break points, the American also didn’t have a single game point.
Believe it or not, Collins managed to win a total of four points in the first set. After absolutely dominating the first set, Swiatek also broke Collins in the second game of the second set for an early 2-0 lead. In the third game of the second set, the first deuce was seen but Swiatek still won the game without facing a break point and opened a 3-0 lead.
After losing the first nine games of the match, Collins finally got on the board after serving out the fourth game of the second set to cut the deficit to 3-1. However, Collins getting on the board didn’t really change much.
In the sixth game, Swiatek broke Collins again for a 5-1 lead before routinely serving out for the match in the following game. In the Doha quarterfinal, Swiatek was scheduled to face Belinda Bencic. Unfortunately, Bencic was forced to withdraw from their match.
As a result, Swiatek received a free pass into the Doha semifinal. Swiatek is now two wins away from defending her Doha title.
