Ostapenko Magnificent In Winning Her First Stuttgart Title

Jelena Ostapenko
Jelena Ostapenko (photo: Porsche AG)

STUTTGART/WASHINGTON, April 21, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

After reaching her fourth Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in the past five years, the only thing left for World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to do was to finally win her first WTA 500 Stuttgart title on the red clay inside Porsche Arena. To the champion would go a coveted Porsche Macan Turbo – a sleek, brand-new sports car – and the same one that’s been displayed behind Centre Court baseline all week long for all to see and admire.

All tournament long, in this 48th edition of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the big grand prize had been on not only the top-seeded Sabalenka’s mind but also her title-match opponent, Jelena Ostapenko, too. Both spoke candidly in their on-court interviews and news conferences about their desire to not only win the Tour’s first European clay-court tournament of the season, which would reward the winner with $142,610 in prize money and 500 WTA ranking points, but also the gleaming Porsche automobile awarded to the champion.

On Monday afternoon, Ostapenko tamed the tiger in Sabalenka – foiled her bid, again, to win the tournament title – and won convincingly by playing magnificent tennis throughout her 6-4, 6-1 win, completed in an economical hour and 25 minutes.

From first ball to last ball, the unseeded and 24th-ranked Ostapenko showed confidence, composure and a commanding presence in dismantling Sabalenka. In doing so, she easily won her ninth carer WTA Tour title and kept Sabalenka from claiming her third title of 2025 and 20th of her career. The former Roland-Garros titlist is now a champion for the second time on red clay – eight years after her French Open triumph at age 20.

The victory, which was Ostapenko’s 12th of the season, will boost her back into the Top 20 in the PIF WTA Rankings. It came about as Ostapenko played with a fierce tenacity, hitting her ground strokes from both wings impressively, and also winning points often and effectively with her first serve.

Afterward, during her champion’s news conference, the 27-year-old Ostapenko called her triumph over Sabalenka, which was her 25th career Top-10 victory, “an amazing match.

“I think I played really well today, and I was into the match.”

Indeed, from the outset, Ostapenko gained the upper hand of Sabalenka, breaking her serve in the very first game of the match. Then, after surrendering the break back in the eighth game that leveled the score at 4-all, Ostapenko broke the 26-year-old Belarusian in the very next game. She closed out the opening set on her second opportunity.

Soon, like the first set, Ostapenko immediately broke Sabalenka to open the second set. Although she quickly surrendered it back in the next game, the Latvian fought back for her fourth break of the final to push ahead of Sabalenka 2-1 and never looked back.

Ostapenko consolidated the break for a 3-1 advantage, at one point stringing together 10 straight points. Then, she broke Sabalenka, again, to gain a double-break 4-1 lead. The World No. 1 slipped and fell to the red-dirt surface while trying to hit a backhand that went astray – and that unforced error kind of summed up Sabalenka’s bummer of an afternoon.

“Some days there are days when you’re not performing your best at all and you’re just trying to stay there,” Sabalenka said, during her post-match news conference, after losing her third final of the season of the five she’s played. The loss to Ostapenko snapped a nine-match winning streak and left her win-loss record standing for the season at 25-5 – including 2-3 in title finals.

Once again, Ostapenko consolidated the break to plow ahead even further at 5-1 after striking her fourth ace of the match on game point. Soon, Ostapenko gained championship point at 15-40 and garnered the victory with her 21st winner. The celebration was on – and it was Ostapenko doing most of the celebrating, culminated by her driving a bright orange Porsche Macan Turbo onto the court after receiving her champion’s trophy.

Ostapenko finished the title match with four aces, won 81 percent of her first-serve points, made only eight unforced errors and converted six of 11 break-point chances. By comparison, Sabalenka struck 19 winners – including six aces – won only 53 percent of her first-serve points, made 10 unforced errors and only converted two of three break points. Ostapenko outpointed Sabalenka 67-50.

“After the first set, she just, like, outplayed me,” Sabalenka admitted. “Yeah, it was just [a] great game from her in the second set.

“Yeah, I’m not happy with the result, but yeah, I’ll try better next year probably.”

Although Sabalenka was smiling as she spoke in her news conference, inside, after losing her fourth Stuttgart final, it must have hurt.

“I lost in several tough finals, and the only way is to have, like, a short memory, completely forget what happened. I mean, of course learn the lesson and then move on,” she said.

During the trophy ceremony, Sabalenka light-heartedly said to Ostapenko: “Enjoy driving the beautiful car. Well, you know, I’m glad I can afford this car. After this final, I’m going to order one because I guess this is the only way for me.”

Looking back, Ostapenko oozed confidence. She gave the appearance of calm and never panicked. The sold-out Porsche Arena crowd on Centre Court applauded her many successes. Ostapenko played with plenty of freedom and, perhaps, best of all, she had the right attitude. It showed in her earlier wins over Dayana Yastremska, No. 7 seed Emma Navarro, two-time Stuttgart champion Iga Swiatek and Ekaterina Alexandrova, too. It paid off in the end as she earned her first win over Sabalenka after losing three straight to the three-time major champion.

“I felt very confident since the first day,” Ostapenko said. “I had, like, strange – not strange but in a good way – strange feeling. When I came here, I felt like something is going to happen this week. I pretty much felt that I can win this tournament.

“I think I’m improving day by day and I’m playing better and better. Yeah, I think I deserve it.”

Around the Porsche Tennis Grand

As part of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Porsche annually promotes the Aces for Charity, supporting the work of charitable organizations. This year, the sports car manufacturer will donate 100 euro for every ace hit throughout the tournament. By the end of Monday’s singles final, the grand total of aces had reached 209, exceeding last year’s total of 174.

The donation, which will be evenly distributed between the “Stuttgarter Kinderstiftung” and the “Stiftung Agapedia” foundations, will go toward supporting projects for children in the Stuttgart area.

By the numbers

Jelena Ostapenko has made seven appearances in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. The was her first final. Ostapenko’s previous tournament-best showing came back in 2018 when she reached the quarterfinal round before losing to Karolina Pliskova.

“Quotable …”

“I honestly like this tournament a lot. It’s a really nice atmosphere every time I step on the center court. Just in general, I think this tournament is very, very well organized. For me, it’s always really nice to come here.”

– Stuttgart champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, after her straight-set title victory over Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

 

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