No.4 seed Anett Kontaveit's seven-month hot streak continued with a 6-1, 6-4 defeat of No.15 seed Jelena Ostapenko in just 68 minutes in the Qatar TotalEnergies Open semifinals.
The result puts Kontaveit into her seventh final since last August, five of which she has converted into titles so far. The last of those was in St. Petersburg a fortnight ago, and the Estonian has extended her winning streak from that tournament to nine matches so far in Doha. Kontaveit also sealed a place in her second career WTA 1000 final following Wuhan 2018, where she was runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka.
Dubai champion Ostapenko carried her own career-best nine-match winning streak into the all-Baltic clash, but came away with her fourth loss in five pro encounters with Kontaveit. The Latvian's only win in the series was in the Eastbourne final on grass last July, but following her 6-3, 6-4 loss in the St. Petersburg semifinals, she has yet to win a set from Kontaveit since.
Into her FIRST WTA 1000 final 👏
— wta (@WTA) February 25, 2022
🇪🇪 @AnettKontaveit wins a ninth straight match with victory over Ostapenko in Doha!
Faces Swiatek or Sakkari for the #QatarTennis title on Saturday 🙌 pic.twitter.com/RPtlHOrIET
Turning point: This came as early as the fourth game of the match. Both players had started strongly on serve, and Ostapenko had seemingly wrapped up a love hold for 2-2 with her first ace. A Kontaveit challenge overturned the call, though - and elicited a cascade of errors from a rattled Ostapenko that did not stop until she trailed by a double break in the second set.
Following that challenge, Kontaveit won 24 of the next 26 points, mostly on wildly slapped Ostapenko errors on the first or second stroke of the rally. Ostapenko had been in top form the day before, striking 39 winners against Garbiñe Muguruza in just 66 minutes, but she leaked 20 unforced errors in a 25-minute first set. Kontaveit captured it having tallied only three winners and two unforced errors, and her eight-game streak took her to a 3-0 lead in the second set.
May need a neck brace for this rally 🌝
— wta (@WTA) February 25, 2022
A fun way to get one break back!@JelenaOstapenk8 | #QatarTennis pic.twitter.com/GvSf7Gc2wv
Comeback denied: Ostapenko has spoken about the importance of "fighting for every point" as crucial to her winning streak, and despite her rock-bottom level the 24-year-old still managed to turn the second set into a tense contest.
She displayed patience for the first time in the match to win a wild all-court rally to gain one of the breaks back, and thereafter delivered some scintillating shotmaking to threaten a remarkable comeback.
Ostapenko's best opportunities came when Kontaveit served out the match. But she was denied two break-back points to level at 5-5, the first with Kontaveit's fourth ace and the second with a cruel dead net cord, Kontaveit having barely got her racquet to Ostapenko's previous backhand.
Rock-solid serving has been the foundation of Kontaveit's surge into the Top 10, and enabled the World No.7 to scrape over the line. Overall, she landed 62% of her first serves compared to Ostapenko's 43%, and consecutive service winners wrapped up the match.
Kontaveit will face No.7 seed Iga Swiatek, who defeated No.6 seed Maria Sakkari in the second semifinal, for the title. They have split four career meetings equally with two wins apiece, but Swiatek won the most recent pair last year, at Roland Garros and the US Open.
Head to Head
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In Kontaveit's words: "Honestly, when I made that challenge, I was down 0-40 on her serve - I was thinking, why did I do that?" she said afterwards in the on-court interview. "But it ended up working out pretty good. Every point I'm trying to compete as hard as I can, regardless of the score.
"In the end the net cord definitely saved me a little bit - I was down break point and she had really found her game. She was playing more aggressive and finding the court a lot more, so I was under a lot of pressure and got really lucky. But I served some second serves, placed them really well eventually, and managed to close it out.
"She can outplay anyone, and then she might not find the consistency sometimes, so you have to be ready for that," Kontaveit added in the press conference. "I was trying to play a consistent match and just do my best on my serve and hold on to it, especially in the second set when I was a break up. Sometimes when she's on fire, her returns are unplayable and it's just very difficult.
"But I kept repeating to myself, 'I'm really good at serving it out, I'm really good at serving it out,' and eventually managed to do that."
Kontaveit also expanded on her improved service numbers.
"I haven't changed my technique or anything, so it's a lot to do with confidence," she said. "How you approach the match, how you're approaching the service games, I think if you're trying to be aggressive [...] that has a lot of effect on the serve."
