WTA Doha 2026

[Miss_Vee]

With all of the excitement of Carlos completing the career GS, and a truly deserving Championship win by Rybakina in Australia behind us, we can now focus on the tournaments in February.

On the ladies side there are tournaments being played at the moment in Abu Dhabi, Romania, and Transylvania.  Anyway Raducanu has reached her first final since USO 2021 in Romania. 

In Abu Dhabi, Hayley Baptiste was close to her first? final.  However she lost in 3 sets to Alexandrova yesterday.  Not watching these matches….just reading results.

Doha begins tomorrow night I think.  All top 10 players are competing except Sabalenka.  Swiatek and Rybakina headline this tournament.  The path will be very interesting for Swiatek, who will have Anisimova, defending champion, in her way.  

Also worth noting that Rybakina has only taken just over a week in which to celebrate her 2nd major title victory…lol.  This girl is so understated, and doesn’t get crazy simply because she is now a 2 time Major winner, because she has bigger goals.

[sugarplum876]

Winter Olympic is grabbing my attention at the moment . I’ll check the board for results, and hoping Ryba can become a dominant force. The ATP needs to catch up.very dissatisfied with them at the moment, happy to see Carlos winning everything but we need more excitement. 

[Miss_Vee]

Actually sugar, I’m deep into Olympic action also…lol!  Will not be watching many matches either, mainly following scores.

[Miss_Vee]

Sara Bejlek is champion at Abu Dhabi.  Cirstea won the title, beating Raducanu 6-0, 6-2 in Romania.

Bejlek is another young up and comer, only 20 years old, winning her first title.  She beat Tauson in the semis.  Hmm….

[Miss_Vee]

Just saw a small clip of Abu Dhabi final, and this Sara Bejlek was ranked #101 in WTA.  She came through qualies to nab the title from Alexandrova…lol.   Nothing spectacular in her game.  Whatever.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

On the men's side, there is an event in France, FAA beat Stan, Fils and is now in the final against Mannarino.

I saw some highlights, Felix is playing very well (It's indoors, lol). 

The good news is Fils is back playing. He is wearing an afro. 

[sugarplum876]

Afro post a picture I bet he looks very nice. 

[Miss_Vee]

I saw that Felix beat Fils also, and I love the Afro on Fils.  Hopefully Felix retains his title tomorrow.

ATP is in Rotterdam and Dallas and Buenos Aires on Monday.  I might follow Rotterdam, because Felix is playing there.  DeMinaur is No 1 seed…Felix No 2.  

[Miss_Vee]

Love downhill skiing!  You couldn’t pay me to be one of these skiers….😂

Anyway, matches of interest today will have Li vs Fernandez who has only won one match since the start of the season.  I’m sure that she has no confidence at the moment.

Mboko vs Bouzkova.  Hoping that Vicky has no strapping on her right knee.

[Miss_Vee]

Lindsay Vonn is too much.  She is now 41 years old, and despite falling on the ski hill during a training run, and sustained an injury, she decided to go ahead with her race today.  Foolish woman!  She just fell right out of the gate and is being airlifted from the ski hill.  Seemed to have been a bad fall.

She has now messed up the race for the skiers behind her, who now have to reset themselves mentally to race.

[Miss_Vee]

Omg!  This race has become a disaster.  Now a second skier has fallen, but the mood of the skiers had changed after Vonn’s fall.  None of them have had great runs after Lindsay’s fall.  The person who raced second in the order, still has the lead in the race.

[Miss_Vee]

Leylah is in a deep slump…lol.  This is her 3rd first round loss this season.

Meanwhile Mboko just started to her match vs Bouzkova.  They traded early breaks.  Now on serve at 3 all.  I just love Mboko’s style of tennis.  In addition to having a good serve, she can move forward to net, and has a Herod volley.

Felix has retained his title at Montpellier.  Beat Marinino in straights.

[Miss_Vee]

Felix beat Mannarino in straight sets….not Marinaro…😂

[Notorious S.T.A.R.]

Gauff and Mboko teaming up for doubles.

Might be interesting.

[Miss_Vee]

Read an article about it yesterday.  I think they are scheduled to play today.  Just saw that Anisimova retired in the third set, sending Pliskova through to the third round.

Had to get out of the house today, because we here in Ontario were held in a deep vice grip of freezing weather.  Minus 31 Celsius over the weekend.  Starting to warm up again.  We haven’t had such harsh winter weather in decades.  

[sugarplum876]

So just saw anisimova got injured.

[Miss_Vee]

Zheng Qinwen is back, and won her first match after losing the first set.  I see Raducanu also retired from her match.  Not surprised at all.  

I find the schedule with B2B 1000 level tournaments in 2 weeks daunting.  Then in March two more  Masters tournaments, this time over 12 days.  Too much really on these players, especially because they are now being fined because they want to take care of themselves.

[Miss_Vee]

Gauff and Mboko lost their first round match in doubles.  Hopefully they will team up again.  Apparently they couldn’t team up with their initial partners.  So they decided to partner up.

[sugarplum876]

Which of the two lost the match? lol 

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Coco is to blame, lol.

[Miss_Vee]

Gauff lost the first set 6-4 in her match vs Cocciaretto.

Mboko won the first set, but was broken in her first game facing Zvonareva, but is fighting back to remain on serve in the second set.

[Miss_Vee]

Paolini is in a free fall now.  Lost her first match vs Sakkhari.

Mboko is now back on serve.  I can only follow Mboko’s scores, but I am watching Gauff’s match, and she is in trouble having lost serve twice in the second set.  Coccioretta is leading 4-1 in the second set.

[fedexpress06]

Miss Vee, gauff is always pitiful this time of the year.  She will wake up clay season because clay can hide her deficiencies.  Mboko should’ve bageked Vera who during her best years was a good player but a massive headcase and is now 41 going on 42.  Never should’ve been down a break even.  2 and 0 should’ve been the score today. 

[Miss_Vee]

Next time Fedex.  As you can see Mboko’s matches are becoming straight sets wins in this tournament.  The girl has just joined the tour Feddy…lol.  Give her another 6 months of going deep in tournaments and hopefully winning a few more titles this year.  She’s becoming familiar with the players now.

Iga bagelled Tjen in the first set, but seems to be in a spot of trouble here in the second set.  Iga’s game is ugly like Gauff’s.  Yuck!!

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Mboko vs Mirra in the next round. 

[Miss_Vee]

I know!  Hopefully Mboko has more energy than she had in the Sydney final in January.  Was it Sydney?  Vicky has to be ready for Andreeva’s changes of pace, and for the fact that Andreeva will seek to nullify her power.  That’s how she beats power players.

[Miss_Vee]

Judging from the scores Parks is giving Zheng a real run for her money.  Wish I could see this match to find out who is better at keeping the ball in the court…lol.

[sugarplum876]

Anyone heard the news of Serena?

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

I have seen it on twitter that she is coming back. Has she made an official announcement?

[Miss_Vee]

Sek, I saw on Christian’s Court podcast that Ben Rothlinsberger? had tweeted that Serena is now able to be back on tour, because she the 6 month testing period was ending in February 9th.  It seems that someone has targeted her comeback date could be on Feb 23rd, or at the latest Indian Wells tournament in March.

[Miss_Vee]

Btw, during the same podcast, Christian mentioned that Alicia Parks said that she had practiced with Serena recently and that Serena was in awesome shape.  Something tells me that Serena wants to try out that slimmer body, simply to see if it makes a difference now to her chances of being more competitive with the top 10 girls.  Just a thought.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

It will be interesting to see what she can do. I would rather see her come back and enjoy doubles.

[Miss_Vee]

Sek, I think most people share that sentiment about doubles.  In fact, the word out there is that she may have returned to play doubles with Venus, because they think Venus might be retiring this year.

[Miss_Vee]

Andreeva as usual is playing her variety to mess with Mboko’s game.  After taking the lead in the first set, Mboko was pegged back to 3 all.  Then Mboko held, and broke Andreeva to serve out the first set.

[Miss_Vee]

After fighting to hold serve in the first game of the second set, Andreeva broke Mboko to lead 2-0, but Mboko broke back immediately and is now serving to level the score.

[Miss_Vee]

It’s a no hold serve set so far.  Vicky was broken again.  Now fighting back…lol.

[Miss_Vee]

The third set is tight.  Both players are determined to hold serve.  Let’s see who blinks first.

[Miss_Vee]

Mboko blinked first, and Mirra served for the match at 5-4.  However Mboko fought off match point to get back to 5 all.  Went to tiebreak, which Mboko won 7-3.  Think Andreeva was crying as she left the court after the girls shared a warm embrace.  So they are now tied 1 each in their professional H2H.

I would have pissed at Vicky, if she had let go of that match.  It was a terrific match from both players, but Mirra had 18 winners to 38UE.  Mboko 38 winners vs 43UE.  She won the match by 2 points…lol.  Very tight and well played match.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Mboko is the better player. She should not let this girl beat her again.

[sugarplum876]

Yes sek and Missvee, nothing officially from her mouth ,as much as I would love Serena to comeback I don’t want her to, can she beat a couple of the girls absolutely, but Father Time doesn’t forget, and I expierenced that daily. People I trained get so down because things they once did are not happening as easier , they see faster and younger people all the time and make the comparison.is difficult, like sek said I’m all for the doubles but forget the singles, her body won’t take it.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Sugar, in addition to father time, her body has carried 2 babies. 

[Miss_Vee]

Zheng Qinwen is playing fabulous tennis in her first tournament after surgery last summer.  She had 39 winners vs 39 errors.  Rybakina had 23 Winners vs 38 errors.  Won more significant points with 113-98 for Zheng.  

Rybakina, Swiatek, and Mboko went to 3 sets.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Miss_Vee, everytime I tried to watch that match, Zheng was hitting wild errors. I kept thinking to myself, how did this girl win gold in the olympics?

[Miss_Vee]

lol Sek! I had gone grocery shopping between 1000 a.m and 1230 pm, so I didn’t see this match until they were in the 3rd set.  Rybakina seems stronger.  A year ago she would have faded in the 3rd.  She has been working hard on her physicality.  She was hitting the bejesus out of that ball.  Both were biting so big, it was wonderful to see on screen.

[Miss_Vee]

Sek, I see what you are saying about Zheng hitting every other ball out of the court.  She seems to be ultra aggressive in her shot making.  

[Miss_Vee]

Wow Swiatek is out again, before a final.  Fell to Sakkhari a few minutes ago.  Didn’t watch the match.  Up next Mboko vs Rybakina. 

[Miss_Vee]

Mboko took the first set 7-5, after Rybakina served from the set at 5-3.  It seems to me that Mboko will win this match, because it looks as if Rybakina doesn’t have much left in the tank.   Elena is fighting back in the second set.  Even when she goes up a break, Mboko is able to come back to parity.

[Miss_Vee]

Rybakina won the second set, but it’s very obvious that Victoria Mboko is at top 10 level tennis.  She needs to work on her second serve.  It’s very attackable, and Rybakina has been feasting on it all day long.

[Miss_Vee]

Rybakina has the break in the third set.  Don’t count Mboko out however.

[sugarplum876]

Missvee, mboko is going to be a force.

[sugarplum876]

Missvee regardless of Ryba being on a high, Vicky beating her is big.coming down from a break down in the last one, is what I expect a future champion to do..very nice .

[Miss_Vee]

Mboko did it!!  My goodness, Vicky is a force, because everyone is taking note of this girl…lol.  This is an outstanding from her.  She reaches the top 10, if Muchova loses this match which is about to be played now.

On Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 2:19:52 PM UTC-5 sugarplum876 wrote:

[Miss_Vee]

Actually Mboko has reached top 10 in live rankings, and will stay there for the moment.  If she loses tomorrow and Muchova wins the tournament, then Muchova will be back in the top 10.  

Hopefully Mboko will be steady enough to beat Ostapenko tomorrow.

[sugarplum876]

Ostapenko is going to complain all day about mbokos serve , lol .

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

OMG, Mboko you girl.

Miss_Vee, you know I stayed away from this match, peeked in and saw Rybakina was about to serve for the first set, I was like whatever. 

[Miss_Vee]

Sek, I cannot believe I watched this match from beginning to end.  Mboko can more than match other power hitters.  With her athleticism, she has a clear advantage over Rybakina, who was showing signs of tiring even in her previous match with Zheng.  Rybakina actually should have not returned to the tour until Dubai.  Turns out that she was battling a cold right after Australia.  However I think her aim is to try and push for #2 ranking before clay season.

I’m watching Vicky match these players who have been on tour for 6-8 years, and is hanging with them, or simply outplaying them in intervals.  She cannot maintain her level throughout the match, but she never counts herself out, and is so aggressive in mindset.  I’m so impressed with her.  

[Miss_Vee]

Ostapenko starts this match by breaking Mboko’s serve.  She is on fire.  Don’t get it m because Rybakina beats Ostapenko easily…. lol.  Anyway the match has just started.  Settle down Vicky!

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Miss_Vee, Mboko is on fire. I hope she wins the title.

[Miss_Vee]

It might be tough, but Mboko will figure out Muchova’s game quickly. I’m sure her team will have her prepared for Muchova’s variety, and Vicky is already so adept at adjusting her game.  She has the power and finesse, can change up pace on the ball.  She is also very quick around the court, so Muchova will have trouble trying to win this match.  Mboko has demonstrated to everyone that she does not give up, until the last ball is played in a match.

[Miss_Vee]

The top 2 WTA Players have withdrawn from Dubai tournament.  Both Aryna and Iga pulled out of Dubai, citing “not feeling well”(Sabalenka), and schedule change (Iga).  Not surprised Iga pulled out.  As well as being tired, I think Iga knows that she to figure out what’s happening with her current results.  They both will be at the Sunshine double.

Mboko is now firmly ensconced at WTA #10.  If she wins tomorrow, she will ranked #9.  Congratulations to Victoria.

[Miss_Vee]

I debated using PVR to record this match, and going out this morning.  However I’m here watching live.  Mboko to serve first.

[Miss_Vee]

This is going to be one doozy of a match.  Mboko plays as if she belongs in the top 10.  Oops!😬 she is a top 10 player…😂

[Miss_Vee]

Muchova has taken the lead in this match 4-3….just broke Mboko’s serve, and is about to consolidate the break.

[Miss_Vee]

Vicky has to calm down here, because Muchova is getting to every shot now.  She has lost her way in this match. C’mon Vicky!!

[Miss_Vee]

Victoria has to fight very hard to hold serve, because with Muchova’s game plan, Mboko find herself on the back foot constantly.  She must cut down on errors.

Muchova is serving big…pulling Mboko wide, and finishes at the net.

[Miss_Vee]

Think Mboko has met her Waterloo in this encounter.  Muchova is serving for the match.

[Miss_Vee]

Can you believe that Muchova had just a 250 level tournament title before this win?  Mboko had no answers for Muchova today.  She can only get better.  Muchova played an outstanding match, and truly deserves this title.

[fedexpress06]

Yawn.  Even granny Venus with Sjogrens took her 3 sets after being off for 16 months and Vera gave Mboko fits too.  Not ready to anoint her as anything right now. Osaka ceiling for me so far. 

[Miss_Vee]

Fedex, that’s such an unkind comment.  I was surprised at Vicky couldn’t figure out how to change up her play, but it was obvious that Muchova came out with a game plan, and executed it to perfection.  Maybe it all came down to tactics.  Please don’t compare Mboko to Venus or Serena.  Venus with Sgrodens has years of experience, and that helped her.  Back in the day, she would have destroyed Muchova with her power tennis.  However Muchova made sure she took Vicky out of the equation.  Give her a year, or a few months.  Mboko will be more equipped for these formidable battles.

[fedexpress06]

sorry miss vee :) you know me lol

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Mboko is doing just fine. She will continue to improve.

[sugarplum876]

Fedix 🤣, the verdict still out, but the young player has potential. We shall see if she just doesn’t become another social media influencer. Just play tennis girl.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

I watched most of the Dallas finals yesterday (Shelton vs Fritz), I was surprised Taylor could not get rid of Ben.

To me, Taylor's game is ahead of Ben's. The crowd was amazing, they like Ben down there, unlike the "haters" on this forum. 🤣🤣

[sugarplum876]

Sek, I watched the match too shame of lead feet Taylor, and Ben 🙄 still annoying lol 

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

lol, Sugar, you know ever since you mentioned Taylor's feet, now I keep glancing at his feet during his matches.

Now Sugar, listen, accept Ben for who he is. People made Tiafoe change his personality on court, now the guy can't win more than one match.

And I heard Ben's dad said their goal turning to tennis was to get a college scholarship. Him turning pro and being this successful is a big bonus. 

[sugarplum876]

Is that what happened to Frances? Sek then he is weak minded.i don’t like that.

Ben I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Tayler has tweety bird legs.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Sugar, I suspect that is part of the issue.

[fedexpress06]

It’s also because France’s is simply not that good.  He would be another Sepi or jiri novak back in the day.  It is what it is. 

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

lol Fedex stop it. 

He should be a solid 20, he is losing matches he should win. 

[sugarplum876]

Jiri Novak, fedix?😂 not even mikhail youzhny?

[fedexpress06]

True Youzhny is a better comparison as is Almagro maybe.  

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Amanda overcame Andreeva. 

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Coco to Eala, "not today". 0&2.

[fedexpress06]

Anisimova is dead wrong 

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

I see why Coco's game is good for Svitolina. Svitolina enjoys these rallies and is not going to give many UFEs.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

OMG, longest TB, Coco takes it to a 3rd set. I have never seen Coco at the net this much.

[fedexpress06]

Get ready for the thrilling Elena Likhovtseva and Ai Sugiyama final in Dubai!! 

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

How did you even remember Likhovtseva 🤣

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Former US Open tennis champion Sloane Stephens and former U.S. men's national soccer player Jozy Altidore are ending their marriage after four years.

Stephens, who won the 2017 US Open, posted a story on Instagram announcing the split Saturday.

"Jozy and I have decided to end our marriage," the post read. "With peace, I am navigating this transition with mutual respect and kindly ask for privacy during this time. Thank you for your love, understanding and continued support."

Maybe now Sloane can show some desperacy with her tennis.

[Miss_Vee]

Sek, I read that article on social media this morning.  Sad news whenever any couple splits up.  Honestly I had been wondering for a while now, why I had not  seen him in her box during her matches…..especially at the start of this year.

[Sekasi_ChangeIsComing]

Yes it is sad news but hopefully for the better.