Jelena Ostapenko achieved one notable feat by beating Iga Swiatek at the Qatar Open as the 27-year-old is the first player to have five wins against the Pole at the WTA level.
On Friday, the Latvian impressively handled the business against the five-time Grand Slam winner, claiming a dominant 6-3 6-1 win in their Doha semifinal meeting.
Now, the 2017 French Open winner has a 5-0 head-to-head in their meetings.
Previously, Ostapenko routed Swiatek in two sets on the grass courts of Eastbourne and the hard courts of Indian Wells in 2021, respectively.
Also, the current world No. 37 registered three-set wins over the Pole in 2022 Dubai and the 2023 US Open.
5 – Jelena Ostapenko is first player to defeat Iga Swiatek five times head-to-head at WTA level. Crush. #QatarTotalEnergiesOpen | @QatarTennis @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/y9qZHh6TRJ
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) February 14, 2025
If you wonder how many wins the likes of Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina have against Swiatek, here is your answer – the Belarusian won four of their 12 meetings while the Kazakh ended on the winning side in four of her seven clashes against the Polish star.
Ostapenko delivered a brutally confident statement after her big Doha win
After preventing the world No. 2 to clinch her first win in their meetings, the 27-year-old Latvian claimed that she entered the court with full belief that she would win again.
“I feel like this court has a special energy and it was always helping me. As I said, everything started for me here on this court,” Ostapenko said.
“Today I went on the court and I was pretty confident that I would beat her because we played a lot of matches and I know how to play against her and I just was more focusing on myself and knew what I have to do.
“I’m really happy with the way I’m handling my emotions this week. I’m just so happy to be in the finals.”
Tennis World USA