Another tennis week ended in February. The women played a major tournament in Doha, which is in the WTA 500 category this season. The men held three simultaneous tournaments: the ATP 500 in Rotterdam and the ATP 250 in Delray Beach and Buenos Aires.
WTA 500 Doha
The Qatar Total Open 2023 competition, held for the first time this year, reminded women that we have real dominance on the tour. Polish Iga Swiatek, who did not start the season very well, focused entirely on his game and it did not take long for the result to come. In Doha, she started the second round with a devastating victory over Australian Open 2022 finalist Danielle Collins, giving her opponent just one game. Before the quarter-final match with Iga, Abu Dhabi champion Belinda Bencic withdrew from the tournament, and in the semi-finals, Sviontek lost Veronika Kudermetova, again, out of the classification.
And only in the championship match, the opponent was able to hold out for more than an hour. Jessica Pegula managed to get up to 3 matches and that was the end of her fight. Although the American should not lose heart, he will enter the top 3 in the world rankings on Monday. On the other hand, Swiatek equalized the WTA Open Era record for the fewest games played on the way to the championship. In 1985, legendary American Chris Evert won the competition in Tokyo, losing just 5 matches. But then he only played two matches.
Iga also mentioned Ukraine in his victory speech. Polka continues to play with a blue and yellow ribbon on his favorite hat, so he can’t help but rejoice in the victories.
Ukrainians in Doha have performed with varying degrees of success. Lyudmila Kichenok did her best in doubles at the Qatari courts, where she again teamed up with Latvian Alena Ostapenko to show that the duo can still produce results. Kichenok and Ostapenko won all three games as favourites, losing only to top-ranked Americans Corey Gauff and Jessica Pegula in the final. Unfortunately, there were some unforced errors in the ending, which is usually penalized at this level. But there is the first finale of the new season.
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Broadcast from Lyudmyla Kichenok (@lyuda_kichenok)
The achievements of Ukrainian women in singles were much more modest. Katarina Zawatskaya lost to strong Canadian Rebecca Marino in the first qualifying round, despite leading the second game to zero. Our first racquet, Angelina Kalinina, also stopped at this stage, losing to American Lauren Davis, who won this season’s Hobart championship. Dayana Yastremskaya defeated US Claire Liu for the second time this season, but lost to US Open 2021 finalist Leila Fernandez in the semi-finals of qualifying. That’s all the adventures of Ukrainian women in solitary confinement.
It is also worth noting that Estonian Anett Kontaveit announced that she will miss the tournaments in Doha and Dubai due to a back injury. She was the 7th racket in the world on February 21st last year, and now she’s already 27th. Australian Open 2020 champion Sofia Kenin unexpectedly reminded herself that she had beaten Lyudmila Samsonova in the first round of Doha, winning her first win against a representative of the top 20 in 2.5 years.
ATP 500 Rotterdam
In the men’s tournaments again there were no Ukrainians, but already in the next weekly review, this point will change for the better. So far, we can say that the ATP will not drive Russian tennis players away, and they have achieved sports victories, which were later used for Russian propaganda. However, there is nothing new, but still there is nothing pleasant about it.
It is worth mentioning the Italian Yannick Sinner, who played in the finals two weeks in a row. He beat Maxime Cressy in the championship game in Montpellier last week and took the first set with Medvedev in Rotterdam but lost in the end. On the way to the final, Yannick beat the top 3 players for the first time – it was Stefanos Tsitsipas. Meanwhile, the Greek could debut as the world’s second racket if they win in Rotterdam, and Alcaraz did not become champions in Buenos Aires. But this time the stars lighted the way for someone else.
ATP 250 Buenos Aires / ATP 250 Delray Beach
On dirt ground in Argentina, it was interesting that former world leader Carlos Alcaras was back on tour. The Spanish player was not successful at first, but Carlitos gained momentum in each match. In the final, the Spaniard fought Briton Cameron Norrie, who prefers faster surfaces but also has a title on the pitch. Still, Alcaraz is expected to take the seventh title in his career.
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine. carlos alcaraz
At Delray Beach, American Taylor Fritz was the best, beating all her rivals as the seeded leader and the world’s seventh racket. In the final he was stronger than the Serbian Miomir Ketsmanovich.
Another Manafov award
Ukrainian tennis player Vladislav Manafov played seriously for the national team after playing against Lebanon and won another doubles title in Challenger. This time, together with Ivan Lutarevich, he became the best of the French Cherbourg. So far, Vladislav has only questions when choosing a wife.
Also at the level of the challengers, Alexander Brainin’s first entry into the main team should be noted. He won two qualifiers at the competitions in Bahrain and battled the well-known Norwegian Viktor Durasovich to the Ukrainian fans in the first round of the base.
In the same tournament, Vitaliy Sachko defeated Russian Andrey Chepelev in the qualifying final and went to the qualifying stage, but could not continue the tournament due to a sprained leg.
ITF Tournaments
Daria Snigur got off to a good start at the 60,000th ITF in Germany, but 19-year-old German Noma Akuge Noha’s quarter-final hurdle proved insurmountable. This season, Dasha is still far from great victories at this level, there is no point in talking about rising.
off-site
Lyudmila Kichenok, Katarina Zavatskaya and our Belgian Marina Zanevskaya went to a gala party together in Doha.
Dayana Yastremskaya brightly celebrated the birthday of her mother, who often accompanied her at tournaments. Marina Yastremskaya posed on her daughter’s Instagram this year in a revealing outfit, showing that she is also friends with sports.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
40-year-old Swiss tennis player Stan Wawrinka (ATR 139) played the last match of his career at the Australian Open.
In the 1/16 major final on January 24, the Swiss lost to the world’s ninth ranked Taylor Fritz of the USA in four sets in 2 hours 45 minutes.
Wawrinka managed to outperform Laszlo Gyore and Arthur Hea in Melbourne. He spent a total of 10 hours and 24 minutes on the field over the course of three fights. Stan will end his professional career in 2026.
After the meeting ended, Wawrinka, who brought two cans of beer with him during his farewell speech, shared his last minutes on the field with Australian Open director Craig Tiley.
“This was my last time on the court as a player. I’ve gone through so many emotions over these 20 years, all thanks to you. It’s been an incredible journey. I won my first Grand Slam here. I’ve always loved coming back here, I’ve always felt supported. It’s largely thanks to you that I’ve continued to play for so long – because of the love and emotions you’ve given me. I’m sorry to leave, but it’s been a truly wonderful journey. I’ve seen how much you love tennis all these years, how you support us, how you know how to enjoy the moment. Now “It’s my turn, so I’d like to have a beer with Craig if you don’t mind.”
Wawrinka won the Australian Open cup in 2014. He has 45 wins and 19 losses on Melbourne courts.
Australian Open 2026. 1/16 finals
Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) – Taylor Fritz (AMERICA) [9] – 6:7 (5:7), 6:2, 4:6, 4:6
Video review of Stan Wawrinka vs Taylor Fritz match
VIDEO. Wawrinka played his final match at the Aus Open and had a beer with the tournament director.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
(Melbourne) World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka dismissed young Canadian Victoria Mboko (16e at 19) 6-1, 7-6 (7/1) Sunday in 8are final of the Australian Open where she will return to the quarter-finals for the fourth time in a row.
“So young, she is incredibly strong so I am very happy to have won in two rounds,” commented the 27-year-old Belarusian, double winner in Melbourne (2023, 2024) and finalist last year.
She will face Kazakh Yulia Putintseva (94) on Tuesday.e) or the American Iva Jovic (27e) to try to find the last square.
Revelation of last year with his title at the WTA 1000 in Montreal, Mboko participated in his first Australian Open. She achieved her best Grand Slam run to date, after her debut in Majors last year. She lost in the third round at Roland Garros, the second at Wimbledon and the first at the US Open.
On Sunday, Mboko played with his right leg still wrapped in a huge bandage running from mid-thigh to mid-calf to protect his knee.
After missing two break points in the first game of the match, the Canadian then seemed completely helpless.
But, trailing 4-1 in the second set, she took advantage of a bad game from Sabalenka to steal her serve and then return to 4-3.
Sabalenka served for the match at 5-4 but failed to convert any of her first three match points, letting Mboko return to 5-5.
In the tiebreaker, however, Sabalenka immediately broke away 6/0 and concluded on her fifth match point.
“It’s in the head and we always have to play the best we can even if it’s not our best level,” stressed the Belarusian.
She has already won four Grand Slam tournaments with, in addition to her two Australian trophies, the US Open 2024 and 2025.
She will play her 13e consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals since her third-round elimination at Roland Garros in 2021 (she did not participate in Wimbledon in 2022 or 2024).
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
