Sundiata Post – World No 2 Iga Swiatek, a three-time defending champion in Doha, fell to a straight-sets defeat in Friday’s semifinal to 37th-ranked Jelena Ostapenko.
The 27-year-old Latvian won 6-3, 6-1 against the Pole, her fifth victory in as many meetings with Swiatek, who had won 15 matches in a row at the Qatar Open dating back to 2022.
For Swiatek, whose second part of the season was overshadowed by a doping affair which earned her a one-month suspension, it is the first time she has been beaten five times by the same player.
Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open winner, will bid for a ninth career title on Saturday against either Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova or American Amanda Anisimova.
“I feel this court is special and it is helping me,” said Ostapenko.
“I was pretty confident, we’ve played a lot of matches and I knew what I had to do.”
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