Maria Sakkari went toe-to-toe early on in her match against Iga Swiatek and was even up by a break but then her level abruptly collapsed as the Pole went on a huge eight-game winning run before completing a 6-3 6-2 win.
After not converting two break points in the first game, the Greek dropped her serve in the following game as the Pole went 2-0 up.
However, the former world No. 3 didn’t get discouraged by early missed opportunities and she responded with back-to-back breaks to overturn the deficit and open a 3-2 lead.
But just when it started to look like Sakkari came to play and that she had a shot at being a real threat to Swiatek, she lost the next eight games as the Pole went 6-3 4-0 up.
While the Greek managed to finally get on the board again in the fifth game of the second set, it was too late as the No. 2 seed held on to her serve for the rest of the match to complete a two-set win.
For Swiatek, this was her 14th consecutive in Doha as she is bidding to complete a four-peat at the tournament this week.
In her next match, the 23-year-old plays against the winner of the match between Linda Noskova and Yulia Putintseva.
Sakkari said some things changed for the better just before the Swiatek match
After overcoming Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the Doha first round on Sunday,…
