Kontaveit into Doha final with comfortable win over fiery Ostapenko

Anett Kontaveit continued her remarkable run of success by beating Jelena Ostapenko 6-1, 6-4 to reach the final of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha.

The Estonian has won more matches than any other woman since the start of 2021 – and has now won nine out of her last ten semi-final encounters.

The win over Ostapenko is particularly impressive bearing in mind that the Latvian has also been in remarkable form. The two met in the semi-final of St Petersburg two weeks ago, and since then Ostapenko has put together a career-best nine-match winning streak.

With this victory, however, Kontaveit equals that run, and moves into her first ever WTA 1000 Final.

Kontaveit ran away with the first set after the early games were very even, stringing together seven games. Ostapenko – as might be expected – fought very hard in the second set, saving a match point and pushing Kontaveit on her serve. However, the Estonian gritted her teeth and benefited from a very fortunate point in what turned out to be the last game where the ball brushed the top of the net and tipped over just beyond Ostapenko’s racquet.

“Every point I try to compete as hard as I can, no matter what the score,” said Kontaveit on court afterwards.

“In the end, the let cord saved me a little bit…I was under a lot of pressure and got really lucky.”

Kontaveit: Ostapenko can be unplayable

Kontaveit expanded on the threat posed by Ostapenko in her post-match press conference.

“She can outplay anyone, and then she might not find the consistency sometimes, so you have to be ready for that,” she said. “I was trying to play a consistent match and just do my best on my serve and hold on to it, especially in the second set when I was a break up. I think sometimes when she’s on fire, her returns are unplayable and it’s just very difficult.

“But I kept repeating to myself, like, “I’m really good at serving it out, I’m really good at serving it out,” and eventually managed to do that!”

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And asked about the prospect of playing Iga Swiatek in the final, Kontaveit replied: “Whatever the result is, [I’m] just happy to be there, happy that I have put myself in this situation again and just really a lot to fight for. I feel like I have a lot of this fight in me and this sort of desire to do well and play good tennis. So actually, it’s very exciting to be in another final.

![Iga is] still young, she’s improving all the time, she’s had very good results already this year, so she’s always dangerous. I think her game is very solid everywhere. She has a great forehand, very good backhand, good serve. Yeah, I think she’s a great player.”

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