Jelena Ostapenko brushed aside three-time defending Qatar Open champion Iga Swiatek to reach the final with stunning ease. (More Tennis News)
🌱The world number two was eyeing a fourth consecutive win in Doha but saw her title defence come crashing down as Ostapenko triumphed 6-3 6-1 in just 70 minutes.
🌱Swiatek has never beaten the Latvian and was immediately put under pressure, losing her serve in the opening game of the match.
♈Ostapenko remained in control from there. Swiatek only managed to force one break point, and though she dug deep in an attempt to protect her serve in the last game of the set, it was wrapped up by her opponent at the third attempt.
🅺With Swiatek rattled, lashing her racquet to the ground at one stage, Ostapenko ticked off the first four games of the second set too; she needed four attempts to break Swiatek in the second game before getting another to love to earn the 4-0 lead.
✅The Pole, who did not hold her serve once in the second set, salvaged some pride by pulling the next game back, but the damage was already done, as Ostapenko served out a superb victory.
𓆏The final will see two unseeded players going head-to-head for the title, with Ostapenko taking on either Ekaterina Alexandrova or Amanda Anisimova on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Worth the wait
𝓰Ostapenko is the only active player with a winning head-to-head record against Swiatek (with at least two matches played), and she is also the first to record five wins over her at WTA level.
𓂃Since the format's inception in 2009, Ostapenko (six years and 321 days between Miami 2018-Doha 2025) has endured the longest gap between two WTA-1000 finals at 6,321 days.
♔She is into her 17th WTA tour final, and her second in Doha, as she looks to continue her formidable run this week, during which she has not dropped a set.
𒀰As for Swiatek, she only won four games in the semi-final; the last time she won fewer games was in Birmingham in 2019, also against Ostapenko (two).
