ARYNA SABALENKA WITHDRAWS FROM QATAR OPEN TO RECOVER FROM MELBOURNE FINAL
Aryna Sabalenka joins a wave of withdrawals from the Qatar Open, seeking rest after her emotional Australian Open final defeat.
Aryna Sabalenka, fresh off her Australian Open final run, has decided to skip the Qatar Open. Her withdrawal is just the latest in a wave of big-name exits that’s left the Doha tournament looking a little thin at the top. After losing to Elena Rybakina in Melbourne, Sabalenka wants more time to rest up before diving back into the tour grind.
With Sabalenka out, Iga Swiatek steps into the top seed spot. The draw’s opened up even more because Jessica Pegula, world No. 6, has also pulled out. Sabalenka actually lost in the first round in Doha last year, so she isn’t missing out on many ranking points by sitting this one out.
That’s not all—Naomi Osaka won’t be playing in the Middle East either, and both Madison Keys and Iva Jovic have confirmed they’re out, citing physical issues or changes to their plans. Marta Kostyuk is still recovering from injury, so she’s on the sidelines too. Lois Boisson, last year’s French Open crowd favourite, hasn’t played a match this season and won’t be in Doha.
All these withdrawals mean Alexandra Eala, Emiliana Arango, Daria Kasatkina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Cristina Bucsa get bumped up into the main draw.
Despite earning over £1 million for her run in Australia, Sabalenka’s track record in Doha hasn’t been great since she won the tournament on her debut back in 2020. She’s expected to return for the Dubai Championships the following week.
After her tough loss to Rybakina—where she was up 3-0 in the third set—Sabalenka wasn’t in the mood to break it all down. “She played an incredible match, and I tried my very best. I was fighting until the last point,” she said, managing a laugh at her press conference. “I had my chances. It feels like I missed a couple, but that’s tennis. Today you lose, tomorrow you win. Hopefully, I’ll win more this season.”
When a reporter asked when she’d sit down with her team to process the loss, Sabalenka looked at her agent and joked, “When… today? Oh, fuck you, no! Maybe in a week. Or maybe a few days. Whenever I feel like I can move on from this.”
She admitted she was a mess after the match—laughing, crying, just letting it all out. “I was really upset with myself. I had my opportunities. I played great until a certain point, then I just couldn’t handle her aggression today. But overall, I think I played great tennis in Australia—even in the final, I was fighting. She was just better today. We’ll talk as a team—though right now, they’re all avoiding me. They know it’s not exactly healthy to be around me at the moment!”
JANNIK SINNER CHARGES TOWARD SUNSHINE DOUBLE WITH STRAIGHT SETS MIAMI OPEN VICTORY
Jannik Sinner cruises past Damir Dzumhur in Miami, chasing the Sunshine Double just days after his Indian Wells win.
Jannik Sinner, ranked number two in the world, got off to an easy start at the Miami Open on Saturday. Just six days after taking home the Indian Wells trophy, Sinner walked onto the court looking confident and picked up a straightforward 6-3, 6-3 win over Damir Dzumhur, who's ranked 76th.
“First-round matches are never easy,” Sinner admitted. He’s fresh off beating Daniil Medvedev for his first Indian Wells title, and now he's chasing the “Sunshine Double", hoping to sweep Indian Wells and Miami, something nobody’s pulled off since Federer did it in 2017.
Sinner grabbed the first set in just half an hour, broke Dzumhur early in the second, and finished the match with a sharp backhand. He stayed aggressive throughout, dropping only eight points on his serve even though he confessed he had little time to adjust after Indian Wells. “It’s very different here,” he said.
Medvedev, last year’s Miami runner-up, barely had time to settle in either but came back from a set down to beat Rei Sakamoto, an impressive 19-year-old wildcard from Japan, 6-7 (10/12), 6-3, 6-1.
Jakub Mensik, last year’s champion, had a rough start thanks to lingering illness and the pressure of defending his title. He lost the first set to Adam Walton but then turned it around and won 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. “The first set was horrible from my side,” Mensik said. He regrouped quickly, got an early break in set two, and held steady from there. “It was hard to get back in rhythm,” Mensik said. “I’m really happy mentally; I held tough and didn’t let the pressure get me.”
Alexander Zverev, seeded fourth, cruised through with a comfortable win over Martin Damm, 6-2, 6-4. But Ben Shelton, the eighth seed and the local favourite, was upset by Alexander Shevchenko from Kazakhstan, losing 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/3), and 6-3.
On the women’s side, Coco Gauff, seeded fourth, fought back after dropping the first set and stormed past Alycia Parks 3-6, 6-0, 6-1.
Teen stars Mirra Andreeva and Victoria Mboko set up a fourth-round showdown, their third meeting this season. Andreeva, just 18, took out Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (7/4), 6-2. Mboko, 19, handled Anastasia Zakharova 6-1, 7-5. They’ve split their past two matches. Andreeva beat Mboko in January at Adelaide, but Mboko turned the tables in Doha, saving a match point and reaching the final.
Alexandra Eala, who made waves last year with her surprise run to the semifinals, powered into the last 16 with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) win over Magda Linette. Linette had knocked out Iga Swiatek, world number three, in the previous round.
As the rain finally let up and play caught up, Jessica Pegula, last year’s finalist, advanced easily; her opponent Francesca Jones retired while Pegula was leading 6-1, 3-0.
Australian qualifier Talia Gibson stayed hot. After her quarter-final run in Indian Wells, she stunned Naomi Osaka, beating the four-time Grand Slam champ 7-5, 6-4.
THE MIAMI CHAOS: WHY WORLD NO 1 ARYNA SABALENKA WAS SHOCKED BY TOURNAMENT SCHEDULING
Aryna Sabalenka admits she was "really shocked" after being moved off the main court during a chaotic Miami Open opener.
Aryna Sabalenka didn’t hide her surprise about how the Miami Open scheduled her first match this year. She admitted she was “really shocked” by it all.
Sabalenka, ranked No. 1 in the world, beat Ann Li, who’s ranked 39th, 7-6(5), 6-4, in her second-round match at the Hard Rock Stadium. But the start of the Miami Open was a mess; rainstorms washed out all the action on Wednesday, and several Friday matches slid into Saturday because the weather just wouldn’t let up.
Friday got hit with more delays. Sabalenka’s match ended up being moved off the main stadium court to the smaller Butch Buchholz court – definitely not what a top seed expects. At her press conference, Sabalenka explained that tournament organisers actually gave her a choice: play right then on another court or move to Saturday.
“Well, honestly, I was shocked they even thought about cancelling my match just because of the schedule,” Sabalenka said. “And they were giving me a couple stadium options, and I thought, why can’t Alcaraz and Fonseca start a little later? Last night, the night session didn’t even start until nine, and Mirra Andreeva was still playing.”
She kept circling back to how odd it felt. “The idea of cancelling? I just didn’t expect it. But I decided I’d rather play today. If I win, I get a day off to rest and get myself together.”
Sabalenka laughed a little at the whole thing. “Yeah, I was really shocked, but I’m glad I at least got to pick what worked best for me.”
When someone asked why it caught her so off guard, she was straightforward: “I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. I can’t remember anything similar. For me, it’s not a big deal to play and have the night session start a little later, but I guess the tournament has to think about tickets and what works for them.”
As for whether she always expects to play on the main court as the world no. 1, she shrugged it off. “It’s tricky, because Alcaraz was playing too, so you’ve got two No. 1s. What can you do? I’m just glad I had a choice.”
Next up, Sabalenka takes on the world. No 72 Caty McNally in the third round.
