Jelena Ostapenko routs Iga Swiatek in Doha semifinals

Iga Swiatek's reign as queen of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open ended Friday against the one play she has yet to solve.

The three-time reigning champion, winner of her last 15 matches in Doha, was soundly beaten by Jelena Ostapenko, 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.

Former world No. 4 Ostapenko is now 5-0 against Swiatek all-time, and the one-hour, 10-minute victory to reach her third career WTA 1000-level final was the most dominant of them all.

The Latvian never trailed in the match, broke Swiatek five times, and at one point, won six consecutive games to hand Swiatek her first loss in Doha since 2020.

"I was pretty confident that I would beat her because we've played a lot of matches and I know how to play against her," Ostapenko said post-match. "I was focusing on myself and knew what I had to do."

Ostapenko entered the first WTA 1000 event of the year with a 1-4 record in singles in 2025, but hasn't lost a set in four wins thus far, which also included upsets of No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini and No. 16 seed Liudmila Samsonova, as well as a quarterfinal triumph against Ons Jabeur.

The 2017 Roland Garros finalist is 0-2 in her career in WTA 1000 finals, and was runner-up in Doha as a teenager back in 2016. But after winning two WTA 500 titles last year, Ostapenko will play either Ekaterina Alexandrova or Amanda Anisimova for her first singles title of the season.

"I feel like this court has a special energy, and it's always helping me. Everything started for me here on this court," she said. "Every time, I'm waiting for this tournament to happen."

"I'm happy with how I'm handling my emotions this week," she added, "and I'm so happy to be in the finals."