Damien Kayat preview the Qater Ladies Open round of 16 clash between Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka takiing place on 14 February 2024.
2024 WTA Tour
WTA 1000
Qatar Ladies Open
Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, Doha, Qatar
Ro16 Match- 14 February
This round of 16 match could be a real showstopper. Former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka and former French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko have already played twice this year (with the Belarusian emerging victorious on both occasions).
The Latvian behaved oddly in both matches, wildly gesticulating about obvious line calls and continuously aiming vitriol at her poor mother. I think that her amateur theatrics might work better on the less experienced players.
Azarenka has seen it all and I think Ostapenko needs to really focus if she wishes to overturn her considerable head-to-head deficit against the Belarusian.
To Win Match
Jelena Ostapenko 64/100 | Victoria Azarenka 12/10
Love her or loathe her- you can’t deny that Jelena Ostapenko brings something different to the game. Whether it’s her uncontrollable outbursts or colourful sartorial selections, there’s nothing subtle about the Latvian.
I sometimes wonder if she could benefit from maybe toning it down a bit. But it’s hard to argue with the results. The 2017 French Open champion- oft dubbed the most unreliable top player in the game- has slowly started to transform into an uber-consistent player.
Last year she reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals and she has already won two WTA 500 events this year. Her opening straight-sets demolition of Kalinina took her imposing 2024 record to 14-2. The thing is this: both those defeats have come against Azarenka. That included a pretty routine straight-sets win for Azarenka at the Aussie Open.
A finalist here in 2016, Ostapenko is certainly playing the most complete tennis of her career. She still utilizes the same hell-for-leather approach to shot-making that helped propel her to a surprise French Open title in 2017.
But her serve has improved dramatically and that has really given her the basis to go for her shots with confidence. However, she does have the tendency to get impatient and these courts do appear to be playing awfully slow this year. This may require more patience and shot-deliberation than usual. Still, you can’t really argue with her form in the present moment.
Former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka is certainly in the twilight of her brilliant career. But the 21-time WTA Tour winner cannot be underestimated. This is a woman who lives for the big occasion. If she were to win the title this week, she would take her WTA 1000 tally to 11, taking her to T5 on the all-time list alongside Lyndsay Davenport.
And all of her WTA 1000 titles have come on hard courts. The two-time Aussie Open champion just has a knack for finding form in these events. The second half of her career has been severely disrupted by a protracted custody battle and injury issues.
But she still managed to reach a US Open final in 2020. She had a pretty dismal campaign last year but she still managed to reach the semi-finals of the Aussie Open for the first time in a decade. As I said, Azarenka just seems to find an extra gear in these elevated events.
And Azarenka actually comes into this event with a little bit of form under her belt. She struggled past Frech in her opener but her straight-sets victory over Wang took her 2024 record to 8-2. She was disappointingly bungled out of the Aussie Open in the fourth round but there is a little bit of consistency developing for the Belarusian.
And lest we forget, she is a past master in this event, winning back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013. She finished runner-up in 2015 and she won’t fear anyone in the draw. Her excellent serve and powerful, flat hitting allows her to overpower most opponents on hard surfaces. Sure, these Doha surfaces are a touch on the slow side. But she does have the ability to mix things up if necessary.
Verdict: Azarenka to win in straight sets at 51/20
Azarenka leads the head-to-head 4-0. This prediction isn’t entirely based on the lobsided head-to-head record. I just think that Azarenka’s combination of pure power and nous makes her a more compelling option in these conditions. The courts are slow and wind-affected, which could disrupt Ostapenko’s ultra-aggressive approach. I think Azarenka will have the court-craft to once again tame the Latvian.
