Former Wimbledon champion and two-time WTA titlist Marketa Vondrousova and Elina Svitolina tussle in Monday's Qatar Open first round, keen to set up a round-two match-up with sixth seed Jessica Pegula.
Vondrousova bounced back from the disappointment of missing out on the Australian Open with a quarter-final run in Abu Dhabi before losing to eventual champion Belinda Bencic, and she faces 17-time champion Svitolina, whose commendable Melbourne Park showing was followed by disappointment in Linz.
Match preview
© Imago
Two former top-10 players tussle in Monday's first round in Qatar, with Vondrousova possibly in superior form, following a recent run to the quarters in Abu Dhabi, where she was beaten by Bencic in straight sets (7-5, 6-3).
That loss followed two-set victories over one-time Grand Slam champion Emma Raducanu in her tournament opener and a last-16 success over fourth seed Yulia Putintseva, against whom she converted 74.1% of points on her first serve despite only landing 42.9% of those deliveries.
Having missed out on the final six months of the 2024 season due to injury and after suffering a setback that ruled her out of the opening Grand Slam of the year, the 25-year-old lefty aims for a positive run at the first WTA 1000 event this year.
The Czech player's previous appearance at the tournament 12 months back ended in the third round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, though it was not lost on anyone that the two-time WTA champion outdid her 2018 debut — when she exited in round one — and 2020's second-round elimination.
On the other side of the net is a woman Vondrousova knows all too well, with both players set for a seventh match-up on the tour in Doha.
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Despite a run to the Aussie Open quarters before exiting in three to eventual champion Madison Keys, Svitolina's current level remains unknown.
The 30-year-old's appearance Down Under was her first competitive tournament since last year's US Open run to the third round before losing to American No. 1 Coco Gauff, but she could not follow that commendable showing in Melbourne with positive results in Linz, where she exited against Anna Blinkova in her tournament opener as the second seed.
That 6-4, 6-4 loss means the former world No. 3 enters the first 1000 event of 2025 on a two-match losing run, and it remains to be seen if the Ukrainian avoids a third consecutive disappointment in Qatar on her return to the tournament after three years.
That 2022 appearance ended with a first-round exit to a Czech opponent – Tereza Martincova – in three thrilling sets, and the returning 17-time titlist aims to avoid a repeat this year.
However, Svitolina has seldom flourished at this event, with her 1-5 win-loss record (17% win rate), the four-time WTA 1000 champion's worst return at any such 1000 event, highlighting her dearth of results in Qatar.
Head To Head
Wimbledon (2023) - Semi-final: Vondrousova 6-0 6-3
Olympics (2021) - Semi-final: Vondrousova 6-3 6-1
Rome (2020) - Quarter-final: Vondrousova 6-3 6-0
Indian Wells (2019) - Quarter-final: Svitolina 4-6 6-4 6-4
Stuttgart (2018) - Round of 16: Svitolina 2-6 6-1 3-2 ret
Qatar Open (2018) - Round of 32: Svitolina 6-2 6-4
Seven years after their first meeting on the women's tour in this tournament, Svitolina seeks a fourth victory over Vondrousova to edge ahead in their head-to-head.
The Ukrainian won the first three match-ups on the WTA Tour, but Vondrousova has responded with three victories of hers, including success in the semis at Wimbledon en route to her only Grand Slam title.
Despite losing the last three, two were on clay and one on grass; the 17-time tour champion has notably claimed both encounters on hard courts, including her 2018 success over the Czech player at this event.
Furthermore, the Ukrainian enters Monday's round-one match with a 39-32 win-loss record against left-handed opponents, winning four of her previous five against such players; however, Svitolina's only loss in that period was against Vondrousova at Wimbledon two years back.
We say: Svitolina to win in three sets
Svitolina's only career success in Doha came against Monday's opponent, and the four-time WTA 1000 champion is backed to snap her three-match losing run against Vondrousova to set up a second-round encounter with Pegula.
