Doha’s key storylines, trivia and more

Suddenly, the WTA Tour 1000s are upon us. Nowhere — including those vaunted Grand Slams — will you find this kind of concentrated excellence.

Main-draw play begins Sunday at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open 2025, the first of the year’s 10 WTA 1000s, where Iga Swiatek is going for her fourth straight title. Along with Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships that follows, it’s a tangle of taut, fraught drama compressed into 14 frenetic days.

These are the elite events where the best players do some of their best work. It’s not a coincidence that a year ago the Top 3-ranked players won the most 1000 matches: Swiatek (30), Aryna Sabalenka (28) and Coco Gauff (24).

And yet, there were some surprises last year:

• After Swiatek’s 30-3 (.909), Danielle Collins — 17-4 (.810) — had the second-best winning percentage.
• Sabalenka and Swiatek had the most Top 10 wins, but Anna Kalinskaya was next with four.
• While Sabalenka led with seven comeback-wins, Mirra Andreeva, Coco Gauff and Zheng Qinwen — whose ages average out to the equivalent of a teenager — were next with five each.

What wasn’t shocking was Sabalenka’s amazing edge in the power statistics. Playing nine of the 10 WTA 1000s, she led all players in aces, with 147 and a staggering (if you were on the other side of the net) 1,034 winners. Her 551 forehand winners were 211 more than next-best Swiatek and 96 more on the backhand side. Now that’s dominance.

It’s trivia time!

Speaking on dominance, test yourself with this trivia question: We know by now that Swiatek has the best winning percentage ever in Doha. Who is second?

Hints included, so keep reading and take your best shot at the end of this article.

The fabulous five

A quick snapshot of the five top-ranked players in Doha, where 37 of the top 40 players are in action:

No. 1 and Saballen

2025: 11-1, Australian Open finalist.

Doha: 7-2, 2020 champion.

Storyline: Looking for her third straight title in Melbourne, she was upset by Madison Keys in three sets. Judging by her Instagram posts, she’s out it behind her.

No. 2 Iga Switch

2025: 9-2, Australian Open semifinalist.

Doha: 13-1, 2022-24 champion.

Storyline: After going 4-1 at the United Cup, Swiatek lost to Keys in Melbourne, but played her closer than Sabalenka, falling in a third-set tiebreak.

No. 3 Coco Gauff

2025: 9-1, undefeated in United Cup

Doha: 4-3, 2022 quarterfinalist but 1-2 since.

Storyline: Gauff went 5-0 at the United Cup, including a straight-sets win over Swiatek in the final, leading the United States to its second title in three years.

No……………… HOW MAN 4 Jasmine Paolini

2025: 4-2, lost to Elina Svitolina in the third round of the Australian Open.

Doha: 0-3, fell in 2024’s first round to Emma Navarro, then rallied to win the title in Dubai.

Storyline: The theme for Paolini is finding a way to replicate her fantastic 2024 season, when she reached the finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. It all began in the Middle East.

No. 5 Elena Rybakina

2025: 8-3, fourth round at the Australian Open.

Doha: 6-3, finalist last year, losing to Swiatek 7-6 (8), 6-2.

Storyline: The 2024 Abu Dhabi champion was knocked out by Belinda Bencic in Friday’s semifinals.

A few more fun facts

Sometimes a tournament fits a player’s eye and her game. Svetlana Kuznetsova (19-12) played the most main-draw matches in Doha, with Victoria Azarenka next at 26. Azarenka has a blazing 22-4 record in Doha.

The youngest to win the title in Qatar was 17-year-old Maria Sharapova. The oldest was Petra Kvitova, who was 30 when she won four years ago. After a 15-month maternity break Kvitova — less than a month shy of her 35^th birthday — returns later this month in Austin.

The cream rises in Doha. Only two non-Grand Slam events have been won more times by the reigning No. 1-ranked player than Doha’s five — Rome and Miami (six). For the record, those titles belong to Martina Hingis, Azarenka and Swiatek.

Serena Williams collected the most WTA 1000 titles ever, 13, since the format came into being in 2009. Swiatek and Azarenka are both at 10.

First-round matches we can’t wait to see

Nineteen months ago, they played a charged semifinal at Wimbledon. Unseeded Marketa Vondrousova defeated Elina Svitolina on her way to a stunning title. And now, the Top 40 players meet again.

Before Swiatek won three straight crowns in Doha, Azarenka won back-to-back title in 2012 and 2013. She takes on Amanda Anisimova, a one-time WTA 1000-runner-up and former Roland Garros semifinalist.

They are separated by only three spots in the PIF WTA Rankings — and seven years. No. 31 Elise Mertens and No. 34 Clara Tauson have never met … until now.

And now … back to trivia