Iga Swiatek paid a short but nice tribute to former doubles world No 1 Sania Mirza. On Tuesday, six-time Grand Slam doubles champion Mirza officially concluded her illustrious tennis career. This week, Mirza was playing the final tournament of her career at the Dubai Tennis Championships.
In her Dubai doubles opener, Mirza and her partner Madison Keys were beaten by Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova 6-4 6-0. “Thank you @MirzaSania,” Swiatek tweeted.
Thank you @MirzaSania ðð¼ð¤ https://t.co/ZGTv5qGFqw — Iga ÅwiÄ tek (@iga_swiatek) February 21, 2023
Swiatek made a winning start in Dubai
Meanwhile, Swiatek was also in action on Tuesday in Dubai.
After winning Doha last week, Swiatek kicked off her Dubai campaign with a dominant 6-1 6-1 win over 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez. Even though Swiatek lost a total of two games against Fernandez, the Pole insisted it wasn’t an easy match to play.
“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,” Swiatek said after beating Fernandez, per the WTA website.
Swiatek got off to a fast start to the match, claiming back-to-back breaks to open a 4-0 lead. In the fifth game, Fernandez managed to get one break back and finally get on the board. However, Fernandez getting one break back didn’t change much as Swiatek broke the Canadian again in the sixth game to open a 4-1 lead.
Up by a double break again, Swiatek routinely served out for the first set in the seventh game. After easily winning the first set, Swiatek also started the second set with an early break and a 2-0 lead. Fernandez served out the third game of the second set to cut the deficit to 2-1 but then missed out on two break points in the fourth game as Swiatek opened a 3-1 lead.
Fernandez paid the price for not realizing her break point chances as Swiatek broke the Canadian again in the fifth and seventh games to complete a straight-set win.
