Reigning Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina continued her winning run on Tuesday after beating Wang Xinyu 6-2 6-4 in her Doha opener.
Tha Kazakh tenni star, who is seeded at No. 2 at the Qatar Open, was tied with Wang to two games apiece through the opening four games before claiming back-to-back breaks and taking the next four games to bag the opener.
After losing the first set, Wang bounced back in the second set by earning an early break and going 4-2 up. However, the new two-time Grand Slam champion remained calm, winning the next four games to erase the deficit and complete a two-set win.
It was the third meeting between the two. The Kazakh now leads their head to-to-head 3-0.
Before kicking off her Doha run, Rybakina said that she caught a cold after winning the Australian Open.
Who is Rybakina's next opponent in Doha?
In the Doha round-of-16, Rybakina will play against the winner of the match between Zheng Qinwen and Alycia Parks.
Meanwhile, the Kazakh now stands at a 10-1 record in 2026. Before the start of the opening WTA 1000 tournament of the year in Doha, the 26-year-old Kazakh said she wasn't putting much pressure or expectations on herself to do well.
“Hopefully this week is going to be as good in Australia, but if not we have so many tournaments ahead, and there are big ones, so we’ll try to work on things and get good results. I think the matches is the best practices also at the end of the day. So we’ll see how I’m going to feel here and how the matches will go," the Kazakh explained in her pre-tournament presser.
"But again, it’s a good practice, no matter what. We still try to work on some things with the team. I don’t put too much pressure or expectations, that’s for sure. I definitely want to do well, and we’ll just see how it’s going to go day by day.”
