Suarez Navarro lands Doha title
Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro recovered from a slow start to beat Latvian teenager Jelena Ostapenko and win the Qatar Open.
The 1-6 6-4 6-4 win in Doha will see the 27-year-old Spaniard rise to a career high of sixth in the world rankings on Monday.
“This is such an emotional win. She started well but I believed, I fought, I ran and finally, I won,” she said.
Ostapenko, 18, who was in her first WTA final, will go into the world’s top 50.
She wrapped up the first set in just 25 minutes, but the errors started to creep into her game as Suarez Navarro broke for 4-3 in the second then levelled the match.
The Latvian started the third set strongly and lead 2-0, but Suarez Navarro held her composure and broke back before going 3-2 ahead as she seized the initiative.
Suarez Navarro went 5-4 ahead, leaving her to serve out for the title. And, when Ostapenko netted a backhand, it left the Spaniard celebrating the biggest win of her career.