Aryna Sabalenka Dispatches Petra Kvitova to Clinch Maiden Title at Qatar Open 2020

World No.13 Aryna Sabalenka crushed the former champion Petra Kvitova in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 to clinch her maiden title at the Qatar Open 2020. With this victory, Sabalenka also conquered the 6th WTA title and 3rd Premier-5 trophy of her career. She has now won six of her last seven finals.

In an one-sided affair that lasted just over 1 hour, the No.9 seed proved the stronger player. Sabalenka’s powerful groundstrokes and consistent serves proved too great for the former World No.2, who was certainly not at her level best.

Aryna Sabalenka served flawlessly to win the first set

Playing her first title match since winning the Stuttgart Open in April 2019, Kvitova was forced to fend off break points in her opening service game. On the other hand, Sabalenka went off to a flying start, breaking Kvitova to race to a 4-1 lead. The youngster rallied to find herself serving for the set before clinching the set 6-3 on her second opportunity with the help of an ace.

The serve turned out to be the difference between the two players. Sabalenka served 81 percent of her first serves and faced no break points in the set. The Belarusian lost only 6 points on serve.

Sabalenka wraps the match with a doubles break

The No.8 seed was the first to earn break points in the fourth game. However, in Sabalenka held a lengthy and gutsy service game, denying 5 break points to her opponent.

After holding her serve at 3-2, Petra Kvitova took an off-court medical time out as Aryna received some on-court coaching during the break. Dmitry Tursunov’s advice helped Sabalenka to break Czech to love at 4-3. After missing three match points, Sabalenka closed the match with another break, winning the second set 6-3.