Finalist in Doha, Ostapenko takes Dubai by the scruff of the neck

Jelena Ostapenko had a great week in Doha. The Latvian, who had fallen to 37th place before the Qatari tournament, reached the final, dominating Jasmine Paolini, Ons Jabeur and Iga Swiatek, who was outclassed 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-finals.

Ostapenko then came up against Amanda Anisimova, who won her first career WTA 1000 title.

Nevertheless, these performances enabled the 2017 French Open winner to climb back up to 26th place. Ostapenko followed this up with the Dubai tournament, where she was pitted against Moyuka Uchijima, a Japanese player ranked 62nd and a qualifier.

But the accumulation of matches didn't smile on the Latvian, who lost in two sets (6-3, 6-3) in just 1h27 of play.

Uchijima, who had dominated Arantxa Rus and Anastasia Zakharova in qualifying, moves on to the second round where she will face Elena Rybakina, seeded No.6 in the United Arab Emirates.