Ostapenko makes it six victories on the spin versus Swiatek to reach Stuttgart Semifinals

Jelena Ostapenko’s mastery of Iga Swiatek knows no bounds — not tournament level, arena or even Swiatek’s favorite surface.

In the pair’s first-ever clay-court meeting on Saturday at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the 2017 Roland Garros champion ran her head-to-head record against the Pole to 6-0 with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win to advance to the semifinals at the WTA 500 event for the first time.

She has now defeated Swiatek, who came into the match 11-1 in Stuttgart, on all surfaces, with four hard-court wins and one grass-court victory accounting for the other victories. She was a 6-3, 6-1 winner against Swiatek just two months ago in Doha, and though Saturday’s affair was a much more taxing effort, the result proved the same after 2 hours and 7 minutes.

Ostapenko stormed to the first four games of the match, and broke Swiatek’s serve three times to capture the first set. Though the World No. 2 hit back in set two, winning the last three games, Ostapenko won 12 of the first 15 points of the deciding set to take a lead she never relinquished.

“I think I was playing to maybe 8 or 9 today,” Ostapenko confessed after the match. “I mean, I could probably win in two sets because second set I started to rush a little bit, but in general, I think I was playing well.

“Of course she’s a great player, obviously. To play against her is a tough battle. Every time I’m expecting a tough battle. But I think in deciding moments I kind of knew that I will have the chances to win this match.”

Ostapenko’s win assures an unseeded finalist in Stuttgart, as she’ll face Ekaterina Alexandrova in the final four. World No. 22 Alexandrova was a 6-0, 6-4 winner over No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula in Saturday’s first quarterfinal.