Another day, another WTA title for Iga Swaitek

The Polish superstar needed just over an hour to finish off challenger Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-0 on the hard courts of a blustery Doha.

In the opening set, a series of breaks largely favoured Swaitek before she finally held to love to serve out the set. A deflated Pegula was the recipient of many a thunderous ground stroke in the second, ultimately succumbing to Swaitek's relentless power game.

The world number one needed just 32 minutes to close out the second set and defend her title, the first of her 2023 season. Last year, the title kicked off an incredible 37-match winning streak, culminating in her second Grand Slam title at the French Open.

"I'm really happy that I could kind of find more balance, comparing to how I felt at the beginning of the season," said the three-time grand slam winner, as per wtatennis.com.

"I think this tournament is going to give me a lot of confidence, but still, I want to take everything step by step. I'm just really happy that I could win this match today.

"Every game I was really focused, and that's the thing I'm most happy about, because at the beginning of the season I felt like my mind was kind of flying away sometimes. But here, the work we have put in with my coach on court and with Daria off the court, for sure, it just paid off, and I felt like everything is clicking.

"Yesterday it kind of hit me that even though it's windy, I can use the wind properly and kind of use my intuition to sometimes imagine that I should play shorter, or on the other hand, play with more topspin so the wind is going to kind of take this ball even further."