Jelena Ostapenko has been playing really well to start the year, and she earned her second trophy of the year already by beating Ekaterina Alexandrova in the 2024 Austria Open Linz final.
Ostapenko entered this matchup as the favorite to win. She was just dominant the last few times they played, and Alexandrova hasn’t beaten her in two years. That’s how the matchup went early in this match, as well.
The Latvian found herself up pretty quickly with her devastating play from the baseline. Indoors hard-court is a pretty tricky surface, especially if you can create a lot of pressure from the baseline, which Ostapenko is known for.
She hit through Alexandrova comfortably in the opening set, breaking her twice for the 6-2 finish. Alexandrova didn’t really serve all too badly.
Serving well was her win condition in the match, but even though she did fine, she gave Ostapenko too many looks on the second serve, and she converted.
It’s just such a tough matchup because you almost need to be perfect when the Latvian is clicking like she did this year. The second set was pretty similar, as the Russian once again struggled to keep the Latvian away from any chances.
She played a bit better, attempting to break her opponent a few times, but ultimately failed to get it done while Ostapenko didn’t.
In those crucial moments, the Latvian simply produced that one shot that proved too elusive for Alexandrova. It’s not a huge surprise because she is the better natural hitter out of the two.
The final score ended up being 6-2 6-3 for Ostapenko, for whom this is the second trophy this year. It’s the first time since 2017 that she won two trophies in a year. She’s right on the edge of returning to the Top 10.
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