Post–Australian Open withdrawals continue with Aryna Sabalenka skipping first WTA 1000

After the Australian swing, top players continue to pull out of their upcoming tournaments, and this time the WTA 1000 Qatar Open in Doha has confirmed the withdrawal of world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who cited a change in her schedule, leaving Iga Swiatek as the first seed of the draw.

Sabalenka will take an extra week of rest after her run at the Australian Open, where she reached the final for the fourth consecutive year. However, as in 2025, the Belarusian once again ended with empty hands after losing the final, this time against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who took revenge for the 2023 final – in which Sabalenka had claimed the title at the same venue.

While Sabalenka looks to recover physically and mentally for the upcoming challenges of the season, the four-time Grand Slam champion opted to skip the Doha Open, a tournament she previously won at the Qatar Open back in 2020, defeating Czech Petra Kvitova in the final.

She is not defending many points on this occasion, as one year ago she was eliminated in the first round by Ekaterina Alexandrova. With no major inconveniences in terms of points – also considering the wide gap of more than 3,000 points she currently holds over Swiatek – Sabalenka will wait an extra week for her return, which will take place at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Sabalenka’s withdrawal adds to several other notable names already ruled out of the first WTA 1000 of the year. In previous days, the absences of Jessica Pegula (No. 6), Naomi Osaka (No. 15), Madison Keys (No. 16) and Iva Jovic (No. 20) had already been confirmed – all due to physical precautions or changes in their schedules.

There are also some injuries that have forced other ranked players to withdraw from the tournament. Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (No. 23) is in the process of recovering from an injury and opted to skip the trip to Qatar, as did Frenchwoman Lois Boisson, who has yet to make her season debut while recovering from an injury, the same situation affecting Eva Lys and Veronika Kudermetova.

The most recent withdrawals already have their confirmed replacements. The beneficiaries – who moved from holding a spot in qualifying to securing direct entry into the main draw – include Alexandra Eala, Emiliana Arango, Daria Kasatkina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Cristina Bucsa.

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.