With a barrage of crispy clean winners, Jelena Ostapenko had just dispatched Iga Swiatek for the fifth time in her career -- in five matches -- and was asked how she did it.
“Well,” Ostapenko said in her on-court interview at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, “I kind of know how to play her.”
This is the delightful sort of understatement Ostapenko is capable of when she’s in a great mood. And what could be greater than reaching her first WTA Tour 1000 final in nearly seven years (Miami), the longest gap since they started playing these things?
Doha: Draws | Scores | Order of Play
Ostapenko ended Swiatek’s sweeping 15-match winning streak in Doha and will meet Amanda Anisimova in Saturday’s unlikely and unseeded final (6 p.m., local, 10 a.m., ET). And while Ostapenko has proved to be Swiatek’s Kryptonite, she’s only played Anisimova once. In a back-to-the-future match three years ago in Doha, Ostapenko needed three sets to win.
The personal stakes are enormous for both players -- one of them will win her first WTA 1000 event and vault back into the Top 20. For Ostapenko and Anisimova, who both experienced uncommon early success, it will be a validation of the hard work and commitment they’ve invested in recent years.
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen and Greg Garber make the case for each finalist:
Advantage, Ostapenko
Is there a more competitively intimidating sight than a clear-eyed, confident Jelena Ostapenko? That was the image she struck in her 70-minute dismantling of Iga Swiatek in the semifinals Friday, which ended the three-time champion's title defense.
But Ostapenko's semifinal performance was no one-off. She arrived in Doha with only one win under her belt this season and proceeded to knife her way through the draw to make her third WTA 1000 final and second in Doha. In a week that saw her topple two Top 5 players in a single tournament for the first time her career -- she dropped four games to No. 4 Jasmine Paolini earlier in the week -- Ostapenko has not lost a set. She has struck 128 winners across her five matches.
After her 6-3, 6-1 win over Swiatek, Ostepenko was asked the obvious question: Why she can't she play like this every week? The mercurial Latvian laughed.
"That's a good question," she said. "I was working hard in the preseason, and I feel like a few matches like didn't really go my way, but I was already very close in those matches.
"I feel like now things are going more my way, and I'm more consistent on the court, and I'm just doing what I have to do and play aggressive."
Saturday offers Ostapenko an opportunity to attend to some unfinished business. Nine years ago in Doha, an 18-year-old Ostapenko ranked No. 88 stormed into her first WTA 1000 final. In the biggest final of her career at the time, she led by a break in the final set before losing to Carla Suarez Navarro 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. One year later, she was a Grand Slam champion.
"I think honestly now I'm a better player, and mentally as well," Ostapenko said. "At that time I was probably fearless, but I didn't have that much experience. I think now I have way more experience, and getting like a bit older and more mature I think is going to help me."
Experience will be on her side when she faces 23-year-old Anisimova for the title. The winner will net her first WTA 1000 title. It will be power for power when two of the most naturally gifted ball-strikers meet for the first time since their only previous match. That came right here in Doha in 2022, with Ostapenko winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Ostapenko may have ended Swiatek's 15-match win streak in Doha, but there is a statistical streak still alive on Saturday. The last three times Ostapenko has made the semifinals of a tournament, she's gone on to win it. Based on what she's shown this week, it's hard to see that streak ending here. -- Courtney Nguyen
Advantage, Anisimova
This one means everything to Anisimova. Here’s why:
After a series of disappointments, citing her mental health and burnout, Anisimova stepped away from the game in the spring of 2023. When she returned eight months later, she was ranked in the mid-300s.
After a solid 2024, the 23-year-old American has taken flight in Doha. A win would send her to a career-high ranking.
On Friday, Anisimova cooled off the blistering hot Ekaterina Alexandrova, who had won eight straight matches -- including the title at Linz and victories here over No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 5 Jessica Pegula. Anisimova, a 6-3, 6-3 winner, saved nine of 10 break points against Alexandrova.
“I think with every year you have different experiences and you learn more about yourself,” Anisimova told reporters afterward. “I think I’m just growing up and maturing and learning with everything.
“Life on tour is difficult, but I’ve been enjoying it, and I'm happy with the person I’m becoming, and the qualities I’m developing as an athlete and, yeah, the progress I’ve made. I’m happy.”
Anisimova has already won five straight matches against Top 30 players at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex: Victoria Azarenka, Paula Badosa, Leylah Fernandez, Marta Kostyuk and Alexandrova. She’s the first player in tournament history to do that. Ostapenko, at No. 37 in the PIF WTA Rankings and the lowest-ranked opponent so far, would make six.
Another factor to consider, Courtney, is Ostapenko’s state of mind. As you know, she’s a certifiably, streaky player and just might find this one a little anticlimactic after defeating Swiatek.
Anisimova is at No. 41 and it’s worth noting she’s only the second player ever to reach multiple WTA 1000 finals while ranked outside the Top 40 -- the other is four-time major champion Naomi Osaka.
Last summer in Toronto, Anisimova had this same opportunity, beating among others Aryna Sabalenka on the way to a final. She lost to Jessica Pegula in three sets. This time, you get the idea, it might be different. -- Greg Garber
