Sabalenka, Ostapenko power into Stuttgart final showdown

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is back in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final for the fourth time in five years. Now she will try to take one more step and claim the Stuttgart title for the very first time.

Stuttgart: Draws | Scores | Order of play

Top-seeded Sabalenka held off No. 5 seed Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 6-4 in a gripping, 1-hour and 35-minute semifinal clash on Sunday. Sabalenka repeated her win over Paolini from the same round of last month’s Miami Open.

“That was a very tough match,” Sabalenka said, after her hard-fought win. “She was playing really great tennis. She made me work for every point. I actually enjoyed playing. It was a real fight, and happy to be in another final here.”

Sabalenka will face Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in a big-hitting singles final on Monday. Ostapenko eased into her second final of the year with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova in the day’s opening semifinal.

Sabalenka has won all three of her meetings with Ostapenko, including a clay-court victory in straight sets at Rome last year.

Sabalenka’s Stellar Weekend: Having not played at all this week until Saturday night, Sabalenka has gotten through her two matches in less than 24 hours without losing a set. Sixth-ranked Paolini, though, kept each set quite competitive on Sunday.

Huge returns by Sabalenka gave her an early 3-0, double break lead in the semis, but Paolini stayed steely and chipped away at that advantage. Paolini got all the way back to level footing at 5-5, hitting a grand total of zero unforced errors in the entire first set.

However, even that would not be enough to prevent Sabalenka from garnering the one-set lead. Another overwhelming return gave Sabalenka another break for 6-5, and the top seed at last served out the set at the third time of asking.

In the second set, it was Paolini’s turn to lead 3-0, and Sabalenka’s turn to diminish that head start. The World No. 1 cranked yet another huge return to pull back on serve 3-2, and she moved ahead by a break at 5-4 with a winning crosscourt forehand.

One final forehand winner down the line sealed victory for Sabalenka, who had 30 winners in the match and converted six of her eight break points.

Sabalenka will hope the fourth time is the charm in a Stuttgart final. She lost to Ashleigh Barty for the 2021 title, and was beaten by Iga Swiatek in the 2022 and 2023 championship matches.

“I want it more than ever,” Sabalenka said. “You know, like when you’re losing three times in the finals, I think it’s becoming something really important.

“In the list of your goals, you want to make sure you succeed here. So it’s very important final for me, and I’ll make sure I bring my best game there tomorrow.”

Ostapenko’s clay-court charge: To kick off the day in the Porsche-Arena, Ostapenko took 1 hour and 29 minutes to topple one of her most frequent opponents in Alexandrova.

The pair had faced off 10 times before Sunday’s semifinal, and their head-to-head was deadlocked at 5-5 coming into the match. Additionally, Alexandrova had won both of their previous clay-court meetings.

This time, though, Ostapenko was not to be denied, and she moved into her first clay-court WTA singles final in nearly eight years. Before this week, her last clay-court final was a big one: when she won the 2017 Roland Garros title.

On Sunday, Ostapenko’s 12 winners in the first set doubled Alexandrova’s six, as the Latvian sought to continue the form that brought her to a sixth consecutive win over former World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

The power plays from Ostapenko continued in the second set, forcing errors from Alexandrova to notch the early break at 2-1. At 4-3, Alexandrova had a chance to get back on serve, but Ostapenko found well-timed forehands to hold on and maintain her advantage.

Serving for the match, Ostapenko deployed a perfect ace down the T at 30-30 to set up match point. There, Alexandrova found the net with her return, and Ostapenko skipped into her 18th career WTA singles final.

“It was not an easy match,” Ostapenko said afterwards. “She was hitting a lot of strong shots. I think I was playing well, and managed to win it in two sets today.”