Aryna Sabalenka post shocking Australian withdrawals

Top players continue to withdraw from their forthcoming tournaments following the Australian swing. This time, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka withdrew from the WTA 1000 Qatar Open in Doha due to a change in her schedule, leaving Iga Swiatek as the draw’s top seed.

After her run at the Australian Open, where she advanced to the final for the fourth year in a row, Sabalenka will take an additional week off. But much like in 2025, the Belarusian finished empty-handed after losing the final, this time to Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who exacted revenge for the 2023 final, where Sabalenka had won the title at the same location.
The four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka chose to forego the Doha Open, a tournament she had previously won at the Qatar Open in 2020 after overcoming Czech Petra Kvitova in the final, in order to recuperate both physically and emotionally for the season’s obstacles.

Since Ekaterina Alexandrova defeated her in the opening round a year ago, she is not defending many points this time. Given that she now leads Swiatek by over 3,000 points and that there are no significant point-related issues, Sabalenka will have to wait an additional week for her comeback, which will occur at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

A wave of withdrawals slammed Doha

With Sabalenka’s withdrawal, a number of other well-known players have already been disqualified from the year’s inaugural WTA 1000. Madison Keys (No. 16), Iva Jovic (No. 20), Naomi Osaka (No. 15), and Jessica Pegula (No. 6) have all previously been confirmed to be absent due to schedule changes or physical considerations.

Other top players have also had to withdraw from the competition due to a few injuries. Both Frenchwoman Lois Boisson, who has not yet made her season debut due to an injury, and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (No. 23), who is also recovering from an injury, choose not to travel to Qatar. Eva Lys and Veronika Kudermetova are also in this scenario.
The replacements for the most recent withdrawals have already been confirmed. Alexandra Eala, Emiliana Arango, Daria Kasatkina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Cristina Bucsa are among the beneficiaries who went from holding a berth in qualifying to obtaining straight entry into the main draw.

Swiatek emerges as top favourite in Doha

Headline The Qatar Open will have three-time champion Iga Swiatek as the main favourite for the title, as she becomes the first seed following Sabalenka’s withdrawal, and arrives having put together 16 consecutive wins in Doha between 2022 and 2025 – before falling in last year’s semifinals to Jelena Ostapenko.

The second seed – on the opposite side of the draw – will be recent Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina, currently in outstanding form after winning 19 of her last 20 matches played – a streak she has carried since late 2025. Defending champion Amanda Anisimova and two-time Grand Slam champion Coco Gauff will be other names among the favourites to contend for the title.

One year ago, Qatar was full of surprises, after four of the tournament’s eight top seeds were eliminated in their opening matches. By the semifinals, the favourites in terms of ranking were Swiatek and Alexandrova – but both ended up losing to their respective rivals, Anisimova and Ostapenko.

The final was also a surprise, after the American claimed her first WTA 1000 title by defeating former Roland Garros champion Ostapenko in straight sets. For Anisimova, it was the first sign of what would come in the best season of her career, in which she captured two WTA 1000 titles (Doha and Beijing) and reached back-to-back finals at Wimbledon and the US Open – although she finished runner-up on both occasions.