Jelena Ostapenko wins Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship.

Jelena Ostapenko hoists the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship after defeating Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets.

Jelena Ostapenko proved that hard efforts lead to success at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championship Saturday night. The Latvian dominated Veronika Kudermetova early and kept herself in check to win in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 on centre court at the Dubai Tennis Stadium. It was her first championship win in the UAE and the fifth of her career that brought her back into the top 10 rankings since the French Open five years ago. 

This was the first meeting for the two and for the Russian, it was her facing an unstoppable freight train. The Latvian began the tournament with a massive statement of defeating Sofia Kenin. She then took down three more former grand slam champions, with all her efforts invested. Friday’s win over Simona Halep was unheard of, as she bageled the Romanian in a tiebreak and took the third set flawlessly. With her going into the final, she had a disadvantage against Kudermetova, who got the day off when her opponent withdrew before the match began. It gave her a chance to prepare against a fatigued opponent and attempt to win a WTA 1000 title. 

Ostapenko showed no signs of trouble when she scored a serve to love and broke Kudermetova in the following game. It was a comeback from 15-40, that saw the Latvian win the next three points to earn the break. She added another service to love in the third before breaking the Russian, whose first serve was almost nonexistent. She gifted Ostapenko three breakpoints, before saving a point and eventually going down 4-0. The momentum was all in the hands of the 24-year-old, who made it 5-0 on a harder fight from Kudermetova, who came down from 40-0 to force deuce. A mistake handed Ostapenko an AD point, which she didn’t miss. 

It was up to Kudermetova to stop her opponent from shutting her out, but time to regroup the first serve was not on her side. She again handed Ostapenko free points and sat 40-15 down before she went down in flames. It was a lightning-fast victory for the Latvian, who took 22 minutes. Consistency was the major factor in the first set, with Ostapenko serving 63 percent with eight of ten points won, and five of six from the second. Kudermetova won just 22 percent and had seven unforced errors that were enough to throw that behind her. 

She went into the second set, breaking Ostapenko before backing it up with a hold of serve in the second. Just when it looked as if the momentum had miraculously changed, the Latvian got back on track, winning the next three games in a row. Sitting halfway between herself and a brand new title, Ostapenko tried to add a fourth game against the Russian, who dug in on serve and leveled the score at three-all. 

Despite having her short winning streak broken, the Latvian picked herself up in the seventh to take the game with Kudermetova trailing on the scoreboard. A key break set her up to serve for the title in the ninth, only to hand the Russian two points to start. Kudermetova was soon up 40-15, scoring the break win on a bad slice from Ostapenko. The 24-year-old tried to do it against Kudermetova’s service in the tenth, firing a line drive winner for championship point. 

The Russian delivered an unreturnable serve to kill it off, but on the next point, sent the ball long. It gave Ostapenko a second championship point that she clinched on a net deflection from Kudermetova, ending one hour and seven minutes of play on the court

“I think I played really well today,” said Ostapenko, whose voice was still on the recovery. “In general, I’m happy with the whole week because It was a very tough opponent I had to face every round, but I love to play here and come back again.” “I was fighting to the very last point and was down a match point against Petra, and every match was very tough, and I was fighting and the main thing I was doing, but I’m happy with the way I was playing all week.”

She is far from done in Dubai, as she and Kudermetova face one another in the doubles tennis final.