Jelena Ostapenko makes ‘confident’ boast after hammering Iga Swiatek at Qatar Open

Iga Swiatek suffered a stunning upset at the hands of Jelena Ostapenko at the Qatar Open, with the Latvian stating after he latest win that she ‘knows how to beat’ the Pole.

The victory extends the head-to-head lead to 5-0 in Ostapenko’s favour, proving that the one-time Roland Garros champion’s game represents a ‘kryptonite’ for the world No 2 – being the only player to beat Swiatek on five occasions.

Swiatek was broken on five occasions, winning just 46% of points on her first serve compared to her opponent’s 73%. The Pole hasn’t got her hands on a trophy since Roland Garris last year and was on a 15-match winning streak in Doha.

“Today I went on the court, and I was pretty confident that I would beat her,” the Latvian stated. “We played a lot of matches, and I know how to play against her, and I just was more focused on myself and knew what I had 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.”

Ostapenko has previously made the final in Doha back in 2016, where she lost to Carlos Suarez Navarro: “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.”

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“It’s really great to come here. They host us amazing here, the atmosphere on this court, the fans, everything. The facilities are even better now, I’m just really pleased to be her.”

Swiatek spoke about the match-up with Ostapenko prior to the match, as she admitted her previous defeats against the Lavtian meant she was expecting a tough contest.

“Because of the head-to-head, I can kind of play without expectations, and just focus on work, and maybe trying to change something so I can finally win against Elena,” she said.

“She’s a tough opponent and she also played amazing. Always when she played against me. So, yeah, I’ll just have another chance, and I’ll try to use it.

“Obviously every tournament has different conditions and different opportunities, so we’ll see what she’s going to bring if she’s going to win against Ons.”

Those words of mild optimism did not lead to a first win for Swiatek against Ostapenko and given the comprehensive manner of this latest defeat, she will certainly have the upper hand on her opponent when they next meet.

Ostapenko will play her third WTA 1000 final against Amanda Anisimova in the Qatar Open final on Saturday and she heads into that match knowing she has a head-t0-head record on her next opponent.

Their only previous meeting came in Doha in 2022, when Ostapenko won a three set match and the chance to collect the 1,000 ranking points on offer in this marquee tournament will give the victor a major boost when the updated WTA Rankings are released on Monday.