A method is provided for an equalization strategy for compensating channel distortions in a dual-polarization optical transport system wherein the received signal includes a complex signal of a first transmitted polarization component and a complex signal of a second transmitted polarization component. In a first step, a blind self recovery mode used a blind adaptation algorithm in calculating and modifying multiple complex equalizer transfer function coefficients to enables recovery of only the complex signal of the first transmitted polarization component. In a second step, equalization is performed in a training mode for recovery of the complex signals of the first and second transmitted polarization components. In a third step, equalization is performed in a data directed mode. The method is suited for a digital signal processing implementation in a coherent receiver.