Iga Swiatek breezes to first title of 2023, blitzes Jessica Pegula in Doha final

WATCH: Swiatek surged to victory in just over an hour on Saturday, reaffirming her place atop the women's game.

Are we at the start of a new streak? For the second year in a row, Iga Swiatek leaves the Qatar TotalEnergies Open undefeated, knocking out Jessica Pegula, 6-3, 6-0 to win her 12th career title in Doha with the loss of five total games in three matches.

Swiatek rode a 37-match win streak that began in the Middle East and took her to a whopping six titles in 2022—including a Sunshine Double and a second Roland Garros title—and after an underwhelming start to her season, the world No. 1 is back in the winner’s circle without dropping a set, defeating Pegula in one hour and nine minutes on Center Court.

Her trip Down Under indeed yielded less than her sky-high expectations, featuring a first loss to Pegula since 2019 at United Cup and a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open to Elena Rybakina. Playing her first tournament since Melbourne, all eyes were on the Pole as she aimed to reassert her dominance over the tour.

Answering most questions through her first two matches, the 21-year-old dropped a combined two games against Danielle Collins and Veronika Kudermetova to book a championship match with Pegula, who has continued to impress in the aftermath of a breakthrough 2022 season. Fresh off a third straight Australian Open quarterfinal, she battled into her first final of the season with hard-fought wins over Jelena Ostapenko, Beatriz Haddad Maia, and Maria Sakkari. She came into the final having already captured the doubles trophy alongside Coco Gauff.

Taking on Swiatek in blustery conditions, however, proved a bridge too far for the in-form American. Swiatek’s superior margins carried her through a topsy-turvy opening set, one that featured five breaks of serve. Though Pegula secured an impressive lob winner to get the match back on serve, Swiatek weathered the storm to serve out the opening set with eight winners to Pegula’s four.

The second set proved one-way traffic as Swiatek surged through the first five games, and though Pegula saved three championship points, the top seed was undaunted, converting her fourth with a big body serve down the middle to end the match with a clean 14 winners to just 16 unforced errors.

With plenty of points still to defend this spring, Swiatek will add over 400 points to her ranking, widening the gap between her and reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka to just under 5000 ahead of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, where Sabalenka is set to play her first match since winning in Melbourne earlier this month.