"Jelena Ostapenko shows up to ruin Iga Swiatek's life"; "Killed my optimism" - Fans react to Pole losing to Latvian for 5th time at Qatar Open

Iga Swiatek fell to an uninspiring 0-5 head-to-head record against Jelena Ostapenko on Friday (February 14), losing in straight sets to the unseeded Latvian in their last-four encounter at the 2025 Qatar Open. The tennis universe was equally amused and surprised by the result, going by their reaction on social media.

The World No. 2 displayed great form at the WTA 1000 tournament in Doha this week, winning her first three matches for the loss of just one set. However, she was completely dismantled in the semifinals by the mercurial Jelena Ostapenko.

The 2017 French Open champion never took her foot off the pedal against the second seed, breaking Iga Swiatek's serve five times to beat her 6-3, 6-1. With her victory, the 27-year-old won her fifth consecutive match against her Polish rival.

The tennis community on X (formerly Twitter) expressed their shock at Swiatek succumbing to Ostapenko once again. One fan insisted that the Latvian saves her best tennis for the five-time Major winner.

"Ostapenko shows up once a year to ruin Swiatek's life and disappears again," they wrote on X.

One of the Pole's fans expressed their disappointment at the three-time defending Qatar Open champion's "shockingly bad" performance on Sunday.

"This was so shockingly bad that it has entirely killed my optimism for this season lol,' another fan wrote.

Another fan, meanwhile, rejoiced at how helpless Iga Swiatek has been against Jelena Ostapenko since their first tour-level meeting in 2019 with a meme referencing LeBron James, who is known for his big-match play.

"Ostapenko when it’s time to play Swiatek," they wrote while attaching a GIF of LeBron James.

Here are a few more reactions from social media:

"Hard flat hitters are Iga’s kryptonite and while she is improving against most of them, no one on tour plays remotely close to Penko and she’s the epitome of Iga’s worst tennis nightmare," one fan wrote.

"I guess not everyone can 4 peat a 1000," another fan joked.

"Players on tour should be asking Ostapenko how to beat Iga," one fan insisted.

"I GET MORE JOY FROM SWIATEK LOSING THAN SABALENKA WINNING, ITS A MENTAL DISEASE," a fan disclosed.

"Name someone more useless than Daria Abramowicz," another fan claimed, attributing the loss to the Pole's psychologist.

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Iga Swiatek has only won two sets in her five matches against Jelena Ostapenko

Jelena Ostapenko greets Iga Swiatek after beating her at US Open 2023 (Source: Getty)

Iga Swiatek has now dropped matches to Jelena Ostapenko at big events such as the US Open, the Qatar Open, the Dubai Tennis Championships, and the Indian Wells Masters. Moreover, three of their five matches have ended in routs in the Latvian's favor.

Swiatek and Ostapenko's first encounter came at the 2019 Birmingham Classic, where the former French Open champion beat the Pole by a convincing scoreline of 6-0, 6-2. She then went 2-0 against her younger rival at Indian Wells in 2021, coming through 6-4, 6-3.

Iga Swiatek fared relatively better against Jelena Ostapenko at the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships but still lost 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(4). She was again upset by the Latvian at the US Open a year later, going out 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.