ADELAIDE, Australia — Jelena Ostapenko captured her seventh career title, defeating Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2 in Adelaide International final. The win is Ostapenko’s fourth hard-court championship title and first since winning 2022 Dubai.
Ostapenko has enjoyed a solid start to the 2024 season. She opened her year by making the Brisbane quarter-finals and taking home the doubles title with Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Seeded No.6 in Adelaide, Ostapenko came through a tough draw to defeat Sorana Cirstea, Caroline Garcia, Marta Kostyuk, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Kasatkin.
Going into the final, Ostapenko held a 5-2 advantage in the head-to-head series, but Kasatkina won their only previous hard-court meeting. That came more than six years ago in the third round of the US Open in 2017.
The quicker courts of Adelaide have suited Kasatkina over the past two years, having been a finalist last year. This year she benefitted from back-to-back walkovers in the quarter-finals and semifinals after Laura Siegemund and No.2 seed Jessica Pegula withdrew ahead of their respective matches.
Ostapenko was tested early in the tournament, needing back-to-back three-set wins to beat Cirstea and Garcia. But since then, Ostapenko’s aim has been precise and destructive. In an extreme contrast of styles, Ostapenko’s baseline power overwhelmed Kasatkina’s court craft and guile.
Ultimately, the difference came down to return efficiency. Ostapenko broke serve in every game in which she saw a break point, breaking Kasatkina’s serve five times in the match. Though Kasatkina broke serve three times, she let Ostapenko off the hook in two key return games.
From 2-2 in the first set, Ostapenko stopped a two-game run from Kasatkina to break for a 3-2 lead.
She extended the lead to 5-2 before closing out the first set two games later with a perfectly feathered drop shot for her 16th winner. The patterns of play continued in the second set.
With Kasatkina unable to keep the ball out of Ostapenko’s strike zone, the Latvian eased through the set to seal the win after 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Ostapenko fired 32 winners to 27 unforced errors in the win. Kasatkina hit 12 winners to 13 unforced errors.
Elswhere, Czech Jiri Lehecka rebounded from a set down to defeat Jack Draper 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and claim his first ATP Tour title at the Adelaide International.
It was the second tour final for Lehecka, and he walked away with the trophy after a match that lasted two hours and eight minutes. Lehecka struck eight aces among his 34 winners, which compared to 24 for his British opponent.
The Czech also saved eight of nine break points.
Meanwhile, qualifier Alejandro Tabilo also nabbed his first tour-level title, defeating Taro Daniel of Japan 6-2, 7-5 to win in Auckland, New Zealand.
Tabilo, from Chile, zipped through the first set in just over a half-hour, tallying 19 winners and no unforced errors compared to six and two, respectively, for his opponent. Tabilo also converted two of four break chances in the set.
Daniel found his groove in the second set but still could not finish one of three crucial break points to shift the match.
Tabilo will move to No. 49 in the world rankings, cracking the top 50 for the first time. He lost just one set in six wins, including the qualifiers, in Auckland.
