The World No. 1 women’s tennis player, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, will be on the tennis courts this week. Swiatek suffered a shock defeat in the third round of the Australian Open. She will be looking to put that behind her when she faces Sorana Cirstea at the 2024 WTA Doha tennis tournament soon. This will be a second-round match in the tournament, which is also known as the 2024 Qatar TotalEnergies Open. It comes as no surprise that Swiatek is priced as a heavy favorite, set at -1400 with bet365. My Swiatek vs Cirstea prediction is that the former player will win in straight sets.
Schedule of Play: Right-click/Open in the New Tab to check match times: subject to change
Iga Swiatek vs Sorana Cirstea Head-to-Head Series
The Swiatek vs Cirstea h2h is 2-0 in favor of the former player. Swiatek won a match in 2023 over Cirstea at Indian Wells. Previously, they met at the 2022 Australian Open, a match that Swiatek also won. The sets are 4-1 in the head-to-head series in Swiatek’s favor.
Swiatek is 7-1 so far this season, with five wins at the United Cup and two wins at the Australian Open. She was exceptionally sharp down the stretch of last season, winning Beijing and the Tour Finals in Cancun, Mexico. But when she lost at the Australian Open to Linda Noskova, Swiatek did so as a huge favorite. Noskova was priced at +900 to win the match (bet365).
Cirstea seems to be playing well at the moment. She won a couple of matches in Abu Dhabi last week before losing to Daria Kasatkina. Cirstea has played her first-round match already in Doha, where she beat Sloane Stephens to get into the second round. When she plays Swiatek, Cirstea will be playing in her 5th match since February 5th. That is a pretty condensed schedule and there could be some fatigue issues for the veteran. But at least Cirstea’s win over Stephens was routine at 6-3, 6-2.
The Draw: Right-click/Open in the New Tab for the draw for the 2024 Qatar TotalEnergies Open
Swiatek vs Cirstea Prediction: Swiatek 2-0
Swiatek is the defending champion at the Doha event. Last season, she was ruthless against her opponents, not giving anyone of them a single inch. She was the top seed last season as well, meaning she had a first-round bye. Furthermore, she had a victory via walkover in last year’s tournament. But in her other three matches in 2023 Doha, she went 36-5 on games won and lost. Her draw was against Danielle Collins, Veronika Kudermetova, and Jessica Pegula.
That’s a very tough draw to post a 36-5 games-won-to-lost ratio against. The conditions in Doha are ones that Swiatek clearly finds very amicable.
The World No. 1 will be fresh against a tiring opponent when she faces Cirstea. Bettors can only be happy with the odds on a straight-sets victory at -334 (bet365).
Cirstea vs Swiatek prediction: Draw at the 2024 Qatar TotalEnergies Open
Swiatek could be heading toward a quarterfinal showdown against Jelena Ostapenko. That’s the World No. 1’s boogieman in these draws. Ostapenko is 4-0 against Swiatek, including a win at the 2023 US Open. If you are pulling for Swiatek in this tournament, then you would like to see Ostapenko eliminated in the early rounds. She is the No. 8 seed in the tournament and was on form ahead in January, claiming a title in an event before Melbourne Park.
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