The main draw of the WTA Doha will officially begin on Sunday, February 9, with a total prize fund of more than $3.6 million, with the singles winner taking home $597,000 and 1,000 ranking points.

However, recently netizens discovered that in the draw for the 2025 WTA Qatar Open, the draw results have changed slightly, and the photos of the live draw have sparked controversy after they were leaked on the Internet. Tennis fans noticed discrepancies between the draw broadcast live and the documents subsequently released by the WTA.

The notable difference between the two draws was that Sakkari and Garcia's positions changed, as did Raducanu and Alexandrova's positions in the updated draw.

An X (former Twitter) user shared a photo of the live draw televised. Subsequently, the WTA shared the results of the draw on its official website, which was found to be different from the televised draw.

The public reacted quickly to the incident, and some even criticized the WTA for a series of wrongdoings. "Nothing is good, the WTA does look like it is manipulating the draw right now." An X user wrote:

Another user lashed out at the WTA's lack of transparency: "The draw in Doha has to be redone in the live broadcast. Harm has already been done, they have not explained why there were two completely different draw results, and any explanation will not be accepted. The organisation, the players and the fans deserve to be transparent. WTA, you should do better. ”

Another user asked the "tennis experts" to explain the incident: "Can the tennis expert detectives who are investigating the players' handshakes every day spend 10% of their energy explaining what happened to the Doha draw?" ”

Sabalenka and Gauff will be hoping to claim Doha 2025, while Swiatek will be hoping to defend her fourth title. Last year, Swiatek became the first player to win the Doha title three years in a row, and if she can do it again, she would equal the extremely rare record of becoming only the second player since 2000 to win the same WTA tournament in four consecutive years, after Wozniacki in New Haven.

Before Swiatek, the last person to win Doha for two consecutive years was Azarenka, a feat she achieved in 2012 and 2013. Former world No. 1 Azarenka has a 22-4 career record in Doha and will be in her ninth appearance this year.

While Swiatek has successfully defended her title in the last three Doha tournaments, she will face a strong challenge from all sides, starting with a second-round clash with Sakkari. If both men stay in top form, the Polish could meet No. 5 Rybakina in the quarter-finals.

In addition, Sabalenka will face the winner between Raducanu and Alexandrova in the second round, and if she makes it through, she will likely face Pegula in the quarterfinals. Gauff is looking to claim her third WTA1000 title at Doha this year, and she is expected to face Bardosa in the quarter-finals and look to avenge her defeat at the 2025 Australian Open.

There is also a focus on this tournament: can the Czech star shine in Doha again? In the past 10 years, three Czech players have won Doha titles: Safarova (2015), Pliskova (2017) and Kvitova (2018 and 2021). As a potential bellwether, two Czechs have made it to the quarter-finals in Abu Dhabi this week: Vondrousova and Noskova. This may be a harbinger of the possibility of the Czech making a comeback in Doha.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Spark)