Jelena Ostapenko clinches Dubai Final spot with three set upset of Simona Halep

Jelena Ostapenko played every point against Simona Halep during the semifinal of the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championship. 

Simona Halep found her biggest challenge late at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championship to take her out on Friday night. Jelena Ostapenko kept her game in check, pushing the Romanian to three sets that gave her a spot in the final with a 2-6, 7-6, 6-0 score on Dubai Tennis Stadium at the Aviation Tennis Club. Playing every point, she not only shut out Halep in a tiebreak but bageled in the final set. 

This was the first time they met since 2017 when they faced off for the French Open title that Ostapenko won. Before the gap in meetings, Halep won in Beijing, leading to this important match in Dubai. In the tournament, Ostapenko played six sets with most of them going to the brink. Her fights with Iga Swiatek and Petra Kvitova were all nail-biting marathons to make it to the final four. The Romanian had it way easier as the 2020 champion never dropped a set against any of her opponents. Halep’s consistency was her best tool to end the Latvian’s run if it all came together right. 

Ostapenko opened the match with a comfortable service, with Halep following suit. They played four holds of serve until the Romanian made her attack. Halep forced deuce and denied the Latvian an AD point before she clinched her own. The 30-year-old backed it up in the sixth for a 4-2 lead that beat down Ostapenko. The 24-year-old struggled on serve in the seventh, committing two double faults, handing Halep another break. She moved like lightning while serving for the set where she took just 83 seconds to clinch the hold of serve. 

It was a 27-minute set that saw the Romanian dominate late despite only having three winners and an ace. The damage on unforced errors totaling 20 for Ostapenko was a major issue that she knew would need to change to fight for victory. She secured the hold to begin the second set, then battled Halep’s serve to break her in the second. Moving the Romanian behind the baseline and increasing the aggression in her game began to set into place. She notched a third before Halep got on the board with her first in the fourth. 

The Romanian launched an attack that earned her a break, and in the sixth game, leveled the score by holding serve. Ostapenko made sure that stay ahead of Halep, denying her a chance to break again. The 30-year-old leveled back in the eighth, leaving it up to Ostapenko to produce the win she wanted. After holding in the ninth, the battle was on for the Latvian to overtake Halep and take the set. Errors cost her big in the tenth, giving Halep the hold on an error into the net. 

The Romanian’s defense was near impeccable, but against Ostapenko’s serve, it wasn’t in place to break her. Halep had the balls back in hand to serve for the tiebreak and hung to deuce after double-faulting and committing errors. She notched another one, giving Ostapenko another set point only to see it return into the net. A second return into the net clinched the tiebreak, making it the first for Halep and the third for the Latvian.

She took a 2-0 push, scoring big on the crosscourt winners, adding her 26^th of the match to make it 3-0. The 24-year-old took full advantage that sat her at 5-0 with an ace. A long ball from Halep handed Ostapenko a third set point with a line drive winner shutting out the Romanian to move a third set into play after 49 minutes. It marked the third match in a row where the 24-year-old went three sets adding Halep’s first of the tournament. Despite having 23 errors, the Latvian’s 18 winners dominated late to help her keep the fight on. 

The Latvian denied Halep any momentum on serve, breaking her apart in the opening game. Ostapenko painted the lines on serve in the second, backing up the break. The former world number one tried to regroup in the third, only to see that her level of tennis wasn’t close to matching what the Latvian brought. It resulted in a double break for Ostapenko which stunned the Romanian contingency in the stands. 

She made it 4-0 for herself, scoring another huge service while silencing Halep. The Romanian was all but out after she lost another service when Ostapenko challenged one of her returns. Umpire Pierre Bacchi played the hawkeye, which showed that Halep’s last return was long, making it 5-0 for the 24-year-old. She served for the match for a shot at the final and bageling the Romanian for the first time. 

Nerves came to visit after she double-faulted on the first point. She had another one that brought up breakpoints for the Romanian but got to deuce. The Latvian gained her first match point on an error from Halep, who answered on a winning return. A long ball from the 30-year-old brought up a second which came on a deflection into the net ending a huge victory for the Latvian after 1 hour and 36 minutes. 

Halep had 20 unforced errors and eight double faults from her end that was too much to handle playing Ostapenko, who had 36 total winners. “I’m really happy with the way I fought,” said the 24-year-old, who was losing her voice out on the court. “Simona’s a great player, and I knew it was going to be a tough match so I had to keep the level up and did pretty well.”

When asked how she coped with playing matches like that in the tournament Ostapenko made a clear acknowledgment. “Every round, I played a grand slam champion, so it’s not the easiest draw. Every match was a really tough one so I really go there and ready to fight a battle.” She’ll have more to come when she fights for a title against Veronika Kudermetova on Saturday night.