Ostapenko dominates Kudermetova to win Dubai Tennis Championships title

Jelena Ostapenko cannot be accused of taking the easy route to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title.

It speaks to the depth of the field in Dubai this week that the world No 21 faced Grand Slam champions in every round en route to the final, where she dismantled Russia's Veronika Kudermetova 6-0, 6-4 on Saturday evening.

Ostapenko, herself a major winner having won the French Open as an unseeded 20-year-old in 2017, started her campaign with a dominant victory over former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, before edging fellow Roland Garros conqueror Iga Swiatek in the second round. The Latvian then took out two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the match of the tournament, prevailing 11-9 in a third-set tiebreak.

Next up in the semi-finals was Simona Halep, twice a Grand Slam winner, in a rematch of the 2017 French Open final, and the match played out not dissimilarly to that clash in Paris almost five years ago, Halep taking the first set comfortably before Ostapenko blasted the Romanian off the court.

Entering the final, Ostapenko picked up where she left off against Halep, ripping winners all over the court and overpowering Kudermetova to race into a one-set lead after just 22 minutes. Including the second-set tiebreak in the semi-final, Ostapenko had won 13 games in a row across two matches.

Kudermetova, the world No 31, managed to put the brakes on the Ostapenko juggernaut at the start of the second set with a break and a hold to lead 2-0, but it proved temporary relief as the Latvian swiftly levelled at 2-2.

Ostapenko then gave herself the chance to serve for the match at 5-3 but a wobble allowed Kudermetova the chance to extend the contest, at least for one more game. There was no denying her