Jelena Ostapenko, Coco Gauff eliminate No. 2 and No. 3 seeds in Doha
The Latvian avenged her Australian Open defeat to Barbora Krejcikova and the 17-year-old outclassed Paula Badosa at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open Wednesday.
Second seed Barbora Krejcikova and No. 3 seed Paula Badosa were sent packing at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha Wednesday, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka and fourth seed Anett Kontaveit avoided crashing out.
In a battle of past Roland Garros champions, 15th seed Jelena Ostapenko maintained her hot hand by ousting Krejcikova, 6-3, 6-2, after 73 minutes. Assertive striking with impressive execution propelled the Latvian to the 500-level crown in Dubai last week and she’s kept up that combination in running up her win streak to eight matches. The 24-year-old compiled 25 winners in avenging her Australian Open defeat to the world No. 3.
Krejcikova could still move up to a career-high No. 2 singles ranking depending on how far the current woman occupying that spot, Sabalenka, progresses.
The Belarusian powered past Jil Teichmann, 6-2, 6-1, in her cleanest performance of the season thus far. Sabalenka finished with zero double faults and conceded just one break of serve in the 63-minute contest. She'll meet Iga Swiatek for a spot in the semifinals after the seventh seed routed Daria Kasatkina, 6-3, 6-0.
Badosa saw her hopes of rising to No. 2 dashed when she was dismissed by No. 14 seed Coco Gauff. The 17-year-old pressured Badosa’s delivery consistently, breaking five times while winning 18 of 26 points against the Spaniard’s second serve to move through, 6-2, 6-3.
Coming into her Doha debut, Gauff had dropped three consecutive matches and was 4-4 on the year. Her win over Badosa marked the third time the American has knocked off a world No. 4 in straight sets (Naomi Osaka, 2020 Australian Open; Aryna Sabalenka, 2021 Rome).
Meanwhile, Kontaveit overcame 16th-seeded Elise Mertens, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, in 1 hour and 48 minutes to extend her own unbeaten run to seven matches.
“I think Elise is a very tricky opponent for me to play against. I haven't had a good record against her, so I was really happy with the way I managed to fight, especially in the third set,” said Kontaveit, who snapped a three-match losing skid against Mertens.
“After losing the second set 6-Love I really had to sort of elevate my level and just play more solid and just do better than I did in the second set. I felt like I managed to do that.”
The Estonian is bidding to lift her biggest WTA trophy to date, having captured three 500 crowns since August 2021—including St. Petersburg on February 13.