Aryna Sabalenka's 2025 seemed to have started in the best way, having reached the final at the 2025 Australian Open.
The Belarusian player was ready to lift another trophy in one of her favorite tournaments, but she hadn't reckoned with a deluxe version of Madison Keys who shocked the whole world by winning the title at Melbourne Park with full merit.
The world number 1 had seemed very sad after that defeat and it was quite predictable that the dross of that disappointment would remain inside her mind. Confirmation of this feeling came on her debut in the Doha WTA 1000, in which she was shockingly eliminated by Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The world number 26 was very good at taking advantage of Aryna's uncertainties, who played a match that was too fluctuating from all points of view and ended up giving in with a score of 3-6 6-3 7-6(5) after a very tough battle.
Sabalenka is still shocked
Interviewed by 'Tennis.com' at the end of the match, Sabalenka confessed that she still hasn't gotten over the shocking loss in the final of the first Major of the season and that she needs more time to get back to playing her best tennis.
"The truth is that it was very hard to accept defeat in Melbourne," the Belarusian revealed. "I think I spent a whole week without stopping thinking about that match" he concluded.
The world number 1 will have to be good at reacting in the coming weeks, so as to prevent that loss in Australia from affecting the rest of her season as well.
Being a very important tournament that awards 1000 points to the winner, world number 2 Iga Swiatek certainly has a huge chance in Qatar.
If she were to lift the trophy, the Polish champion would move to just 186 points behind Aryna in the WTA ranking and undermine her leadership. When you consider that Coco Gauff was also eliminated (by Marta Kostyuk), Iga is indeed the top favorite to win this tournament.
