Amanda Anisimova vs Jelena Ostapenko's 'unseeded' showdown at Qatar Open final leaves tennis insider spellbound

Unseeded Amanda Anisimova and Jelena Ostapenko have progressed to the final of the Qatar Open in Doha. Both players came through their semifinals in straight sets to set up Sunday's final, in a tournament that has seen its seeded players suffer early exits.

World No. 1 and top seed Aryna Sabalenka succumbed to Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round, while Iga Swiatek, the second seed, made it to the semifinals - the only seed to do so - but was handily beaten by Ostapenko. Instances of finals being contested by two unseeded players are few and far between.

Noted tennis journalist and commentator Jose Morgado took to his X (formerly Twitter) account to suggest that the depth of talent on the WTA Tour is the reason for this.

"This is the depth of the WTA. A WTA 1000 final between two unseeded players is still incredible on paper," he wrote, sharing a post from the WTA after the Jelena Ostapenko vs Amanda Anisimova final was set.

Jelena Ostapenko, who won the 2017 French Open, will lock horns with 2019 Roland Garros semifinalist Amanda Anisimova in the final of the 2025 Qatar Open.

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The WTA now has a far greater spread of talent with more Major title winners

Jelena Ostapenko at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open - Day Six - Source: Getty

In the Majors, success for unseeded competitors is even rarer. When Emma Raducanu won the US Open in 2021 she became only the sixth unseeded player to win a Major title. Interestingly, the fourth player to do so was Jelena Ostapenko, when she won the 2017 French Open title as a 20-year-old.

Now 27, Ostapenko's progress through the Doha tournament has been hugely impressive. She's not lost a set and has beaten several seeded players on her way. She saw off Aoi Ito 6-2, 6-1; Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(5), 7-5; Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2; and Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Her 6-3, 6-1 win over Swiatek in the semifinals confirmed her 5-0 dominance in their particular head-to-head.

Amanda Anisimova's progress to the final has been no less impressive. In the semifinals, she defeated a tired-looking Alexandrova, who had to that point been the giant-killing non-seed of the tournament. She's taken her fair share of scalps along the way too - putting Azarenka, Paula Badosa, and Marta Kostyuk to the sword.

Jose Margado has a point: the strength in depth of the women's game has improved markedly in recent years. in the 21 Majors contested since 2020, there have been 11 different winners. That's a vast difference from the days when Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, and Serena Williams were hoovering up 20-plus Major titles each.