Jelena Ostapenko remains unbeaten against Iga Swiatek. The Latvian improved to 5-0 against the No. 2 seed with an imperious 6-3, 6-1 victory in the Qatar TotalEnergies Open semifinals, ending three-time defending champion Swiatek's 15-match winning streak at the tournament.
Doha: Draws | Scores | Order of Play
Ostapenko advances to her 17th career Hologic WTA Tour final, second in Doha and fourth at WTA 1000 level or above (following Doha 2016, Roland Garros 2017 and Miami 2018). Her six-year, 321-day gap since the last of those is the longest between WTA 1000 finals since the format's inception in 2009. The 27-year-old, who has not dropped a set yet this week, will face another unseeded player, Amanda Anisimova, for her biggest title since Roland Garros 2017. Their only previous meeting also took place in Doha, with Ostapenko taking their 2022 second-round clash 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
A history of dominance: "I was pretty confident that I obviously would beat her, because we've played a lot of matches and I know how to play against her," Ostapenko said in her on-court interview. "I was more focusing on myself and what I had to do. I'm happy with the way I'm handling my emotions this week."
The 2017 Roland Garros champion had reason to be so self-assured. She is the only active player with a winning head-to-head against Swiatek (with at least two matches played). Including retired players, only one other player can boast such a record -- former World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, who was 2-0 against the Pole.
The 70-minute contest was Swiatek's quickest since she fell 6-0, 6-4 in 69 minutes to Garbiñe Muguruza in the 2021 Dubai second round, and her total of four games won the lowest since she lost 6-2, 6-2 to Elena Rybakina in the 2023 Indian Wells semifinals. You have to go back to 2019 to find a match in which Swiatek has won fewer than four games -- a 51-minute 6-0, 6-2 rout in the Birmingham first round at the hands of none other than Ostapenko.
That was their first meeting, and Ostapenko went on to triumph at Indian Wells 2021 before a pair of wins that bookended Swiatek's first reign as World No. 1. Her 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4) triumph in the 2022 Dubai third round was Swiatek's last loss before ascending to the top spot and compiling a historic 37-match winning streak. Her 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory in the 2023 US Open fourth round meant that Swiatek ceded World No. 1 to Aryna Sabalenka for the first time.
Quick to start, quick to finish: Ostapenko started as she meant to go on: blitzing a forehand return winner on the first point of the match, and another to capture the Swiatek serve in the first game. In a flurry of overwhelming winners, she stamped her authority on the match from the off by winning eight of the first nine points.
Teeing off on everything, Ostapenko racked up 24 winners to Swiatek's seven, and committed only 15 unforced errors. Swiatek briefly found an effective response in the sixth game with a pair of angled winners, but her break point opportunity was snuffed out by an Ostapenko service winner.
Ostapenko went from strength to strength in the second set while Swiatek's level fell. In the fourth game, the Pole netted a smash and shanked a forehand, before Ostapenko came out on top of a wild exchange featuring a drop shot, an absurd reflex and finally a pinpoint backhand winner on the line.
Up 4-0 and having won six straight games, Ostapenko lapsed momentarily to concede her serve for the only time with a double fault. But it was a mere blip, and she resumed pummeling winners to every corner to close out the final two games.
"Obviously I was preparing for the match, and I pretty much knew what to expect from her," Ostapenko said afterwards. "I don't know, sometimes I know where the ball's coming, but sometimes I'm just going with my feelings and my instincts, so that helps me."
