What Iga Swiatek did against Jelena Ostapenko at the 2023 US Open that drove Sam Stosur ‘crazy’

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Iga Swiatek has continued her struggles into Dubai, with the world number two having suffered a quarter-final exit.

Swiatek emulated Serena Williams en route to the Dubai Tennis Championships quarter-finals, having overcome Victoria Azarenka and Dayana Yastremska.

But the Pole then fell to rising star Mirra Andreeva, who secured a shock 6-3, 6-3 win before clinching her first-ever WTA 1000 title.

Swiatek likes working with Wim Fissette, but the pair have yet to secure success as a player-coach team this year.

The former world number one has, however, come close, with Swiatek reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open and Qatar Open.

But the latter exit highlighted a real issue for the five-time Grand Slam champion, with the Pole suffering a fifth successive career defeat to Jelena Ostapenko.

Sam Stosur driven ‘crazy’ by Iga Swiatek’s approach against Jelena Ostapenko

Swiatek has lost all five of her WTA meetings with the Latvian, with their most recent before Doha coming at the 2023 US Open.

Sharing her most favourable head-to-head records and her thoughts on Swiatek’s struggles against Ostapenko, former professional Sam Stosur said on The Tennis podcast: “I had a great record against Li Na and Vera Zvonareva.

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“I actually remember watching that US Open match in the airport when I was flying home and just thinking, my gosh, Iga cannot find a way to win points on her serve.

“And she kept doing the same thing, like just hitting it to Ostapenko’s forehand time and time again, and it was driving me crazy, because I was like, ‘come on, you’ve got to do something different’.

“But yeah, the match-up obviously doesn’t work for Iga, and now the longer it goes, Ostapenko gets more confident with that, and Iga gets less confident with that.

“So let’s see what happens the next time they play. And if the surface does change it, I don’t know, I think it’s just the matchup as well. It might play a part, but yeah I just think there’s something about playing Ostapenko that she just hates.”

Jelena Ostapenko leads Iga Swiatek 5-0 after Qatar Open

Swiatek has regularly been the favourite for her matches against Ostapenko, but has constantly failed to come out on top.

Upsets are, of course, a regular occurrence across the WTA and ATP tours, but such a bizarre one-sided affair is uncommon.

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Ostapenko has clearly figured out where Swiatek’s weaknesses lie, while there is also perhaps a mental struggle for the latter given the record.

Intriguingly, it could provide clues for other players on how to stop Swiatek, who has been one of the most dominant players on the WTA tour in recent seasons.