Top Seed Jeļena Ostapenko of Latvia Takes WTA Title at 2024 Linz Open
The Latvian faced off with Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in the final.
Jeļena Ostapenko, 26, of Latvia defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova, 29, of Russia to win the Women’s Singles title at the 2024 Linz Open in Linz, Austria (a WTA 500 event). The score in the final was 6-2 and 6-3 in favor of Ostapenko.
This was the tenth match Alexandrova and Ostapenko have played against each other on the WTA Tour - with Alexandrova leading their prior meetings 5-4. Today’s victory is the second title Ostapenko has won on the 2024 WTA Tour and the eighth title of her career in single’s competition.
Notably, this was the second time both players have reached the final at Linz - Alexandrova in 2018 and Ostapenko in 2019. Neither player claimed the title in those past encounters. Moreover, this is the second final Alexandrova and Ostapenko have contested. They previously faced off at the Korea Open in September 2022, which Alexandrova won.
Heading into this tournament, Ostapenko was ranked as the Number 12 tennis player on the 2024 WTA Tour, while Alexandrova carried the Number 21 designation. By winning in Linz, Ostapenko has received 500 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Alexandrova has picked up 325 points.
Anastasia Potapova of Russia (No. 27) was the defending champion. This year though, she lost in the quarterfinals to Alexandrova. Moreover, Ostapenko and Alexandrova were the tournament’s top two seeds. The event allowed the top four seeds to advance directly to the second round.
Ostapenko arrived in the final after winning against Clara Tauson of Denmark (No. 91), Jodie Burrage of the United Kingdom (No. 102), and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (No. 42). Notably, she didn’t play another seeded player until the final.
In the other half of the main draw, Alexandrova defeated Jule Niemeier of Germany (No. 159), Potapova, and Donna Vekić of Croatia (No. 34). To reach the final, she had to knock out the tournament’s third and fifth seeds.
The revised rankings for the 2024 WTA Tour will be officially released on Monday, February 5. The tour will then play two tournaments between February 5 and 11: the Abu Dhabi Open in Abu Dhabi, UAE (a WTA 500 event) and the Transylvania Open in Cluj Napoca, Romania (a WTA 250 event). Both tournaments will be played on hard courts.
Belinda Bencic of Switzerland (No. 22) is the reigning champion at the Abu Dhabi Open. However, she is currently off the tour pregnant with her first child. Meanwhile, Tamara Korpatsch of Germany (No. 76) is the reigning champion at the Transylvania Open. She returns to the main draw this year as an unseeded player.