World No.1 tennis player Iga Swiatek, who made a triumphant return to competition at the Qatar Open with a 6-0, 6-1 win over No.42 Danielle Collins of the USA, has paved her way into the semifinals after her quarterfinal opponent Belinda Bencic withdrew from the tournament due to fatigue.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Swiatek was set to face Bencic in Thursday's quarterfinals, but the Abu Dhabi champion withdrew from the tournament after notching a physical, hard-fought victory over Victoria Azarenka.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The Pole will now face either No.4 seed Coco Gauff or Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinals on Friday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Last season, Swiatek kicked off her 37-match win streak in Doha, where she captured her first WTA 1000 hard-court title.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Playing her first match since the Australian Open, the reigning champion showed no signs of rust against Collins, as she built a 3-0 lead after just 10 minutes and pocketed the opening set in just 21 minutes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
With the American struggling to find her range, Swiatek lost just four points in the opening set. Collins was unable to hit a winner in the opening set while misfiring on 13 unforced errors.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Collins levelled up in the second set, snapping Swiatek's nine-game run to get on the board at 3-1. But Swiatek refused to let her own level drop, as she steadily marched toward the finish line to seal the win after 53 minutes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I felt pretty confident," Swiatek was quoted by WTA. "I'm happy that I was kind of composed and from the beginning till the end pretty focused and disciplined with tactics. I didn't really let Danielle get into the rhythm. I wanted to be aggressive. I'm pretty happy that I did that well."<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Collins levelled up in the second set, snapping Swiatek's nine-game run to get on the board at 3-1. But Swiatek refused to let her own level drop, as she steadily marched toward the finish line to seal the win after 53 minutes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n