© Getty Images Sport – Mohamed Farag
Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina are set for their first WTA 1000 tournament of the season as the top-3 Doha seeds have learned their projected path to the title at the Qatar Open.
Swiatek, the top-seeded player and the back-to-back champion in Doha in 2022 and 2023, has a first-round bye as she plays against the winner of the match between Sorana Cirstea and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the second round. After potentially meeting a Grand Slam champion in her Doha opener, Swiatek is projected to meet a seeded player for the first time in the round-of-16 – No. 14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
In the Doha quarterfinal, Swiatek could meet a player who is a nightmare matchup for her – Jelena Ostapenko, who has a 4-0 head-to-head against the Pole. Then, the projected Doha semifinal sees Swiatek taking on No. 4 seed Ons Jabeur and clashing against No. 2 seed Gauff in the final, respectively.
Gauff’s path to the Doha title
As mentioned above, Gauff is the second-seeded player and also has a first-round bye before taking on either Donna Vekic or Katerina Siniakova. For a place in the Doha quarterfinal, Gauff’s likely opponent would be No. 13 seed Veronika…
