Tennis: Sabalenka Wins Qatar Total Open

Doha, February 29 (QNA) - Aryna Sabalenka delivered a masterclass of power tennis to collect her sixth career title at the Qatar Total Open, blasting past No.8 seed Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-3 in one hour and 14 minutes. The Belarusian, who struck seven aces and 21 winners to just 15 unforced errors, is now on an 11-match winning streak at Premier 5 level, having also triumphed in Wuhan last September, and today's win marked her third title in the past six months - as well as ending 2018 champion Kvitova's 10-match winning streak in Doha and levelling their head-to-head at two apiece. Dating back to that Wuhan title, Sabalenka's win-loss record is an impressive 22-6 - a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that the 21-year-old suffered personal tragedy during this period after the death of her father Sergey in November. Sabalenka was impregnable on serve through a brilliant first set in which she landed 81% of her first serves, and won the same percentage of the points behind it. Consequently, Sabalenka would concede only six points in total when she stepped up to the line, never facing a break point and leaving her free to swing away on return. The World No.13 would excel in this area, too. A stunning angled backhand winner during Kvitova's first service game was an early illustration not only of Sabalenka's aggressive intent - but also of the accuracy and subtlety of it. Though the Czech would come up with a flurry of superlative forehands to save two break points in that game, Sabalenka was undeterred and struck a decisive blow in the next, breaking Kvitova with a smart wrongfooting backhand down the line. The win will raise Sabalenka back up to the verge of the Top 10, lifting the new champion to World No.11 on Monday. (QNA)