Amanda Anisimova wins her first WTA 1000 title

Amanda Anisimova claimed her first WTA 1000 title by defeating Jelena Ostapenko 6-4, 6-3 at the Qatar Open finals. 

With this victory, she is the lowest-ranked player ever to win the title in the tournament’s history, being 41st in the world. Moreover, she is the first American to secure the Doha title since Monica Seles in 2002. 

In a social media post, the athlete wrote:  “Wow 🤩 thank you @qatartotalenergiesopen for an incredible week here in Doha 🙏🏽 my first WTA 1000 title 🥹 means the world to me. What a journey the last few weeks have been. Thank you to everyone for all the support, it’s been amazing 🫶🏼 & to my family & team thank you for all you do for me, none of this would be possible without all of you 🤍🥹”

 

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Highlights of the match 

After a dominant win over three-time champion and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, Ostapenko faced Anisimova in the final round. However, Anisimova delivered a powerful performance, giving the Latvian athlete a taste of her own game. 

In the first WTA 1000 final featuring two players ranked outside the top 30, both athletes went head-to-head with fierce baseline rallies. Anisimova was more composed in the opening set. Even though her early break of serve was cancelled out by the former French Open champion Ostapenko, she did not lose her focus and broke again in the ninth game to take control of the set. 

Anisimova seemed on track for a smooth win when she broke for a 2-1 lead in the second set, but Ostapenko quickly bounced back, breaking serve to level things up. Rain interrupted play while Ostapenko was serving at 3-3, 40-40, forcing a nearly 25-minute delay before the game resumed. 

After the rain delay, Anisimova came out strong, breaking serve right away and sticking to her attacking game plan to finish the match in one hour and 21 minutes. 

Ostapenko lost the match with 10 double faults. Her record in WTA 1000 finals now stands at 0-3. Despite her loss, the 27-year-old has a lot to be proud of from her experience in Doha, where she defeated two top-five players–Swiatek and Jasmine Paolina– in the same tournament for the first time in her career.