Animisova wins Qatar TotalEnergies Open for her biggest title of career

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February 15, 2025
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15-February-2025

Animisova wins Qatar TotalEnergies Open for her biggest title of career

DOHA - Living up to her roaring form, Amanda Anisimova brushed aside the challenge of an equally challenging Jelena Ostapenko in the final to claim the Falcon trophy of the Qatar TotalEnergiesOpen 2024 at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex on Saturday.

American Anisimova overpowered the Latvian 6-4, 6-3 to clinch her maiden WTA 1000 and third WTA title - the biggest of her career, and first in over three years.

Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, presented the trophy to the winner, in the presence of HE Nasser bin Ghanem Al Khelaifi, President of the Qatar Tennis, Squash, Padel and Badminton Federation, and Saad Al Mohannadi, Tournament Director.

She also becomes the first American woman to lift the trophy in Doha since Monica Seles achieved the feat back in 2002. The achievement also marks a fightback in life in the past few years. Anisimova has fought back through early stages of her career, and the 23-year-old recently made her comeback to the tour last season following injury setbacks, as well as taking time away from the sport in 2023 to protect her mental health.

In Doha though, it was all about smiles for Anisimova as she prevailed in a rain-interrupted final after a “lot of hard work and a lot of tears”.

Ranked 41 in the world, Anisimova is the lowest-ranked champion in tournament history. But that shouldn’t matter. She’s showed qualities of a champion against Ostapenko, who was riding on a resounding victory over three-time champion and world number two Iga Swiatek in the semis. But Anisimova too was determined striking the ball hard and making some superb winners.

“This week has been amazing. To be able to lift the trophy here for my first WTA 1000 is super special,” said Anisimova, who will make her top-20 debut on Monday, rising to a career-high 18 in the world.

In May 2023, the American announced she would be taking an indefinite break from tennis, citing burnout and mental health concerns. She returned to action at the start of last season, ranked 373 in the world, and has clawed her way back up the charts to hit a new milestone when the new rankings are released on Monday.

“There’s been a lot of hard work, a lot of tears, a lot of good moments. I think with tennis you experience it all, but that’s also why I love it,” said Anisimova.

“There have been a lot of challenges the last few weeks and I’m very proud of myself and happy with how I’ve dealt with them. It’s been an incredible week on top of that.”

In the first WTA 1000 final to feature two players ranked outside the top 30, Ostapenko and Anisimova traded heavy blows from the baseline, both utilising the same aggressive game style that carried them into the championship match.

Anisimova was more clinical of the pair in the opening set, as she remained unfazed when her early break of serve was nullified by former French Open champion Ostapenko and broke again in the tenth game to take the lead in 37 minutes.

It was the first set Ostapenko dropped all week, the five double faults she committed proving costly against a dialled-in Anisimova.

Anisimova looked on her way to a comfortable win when she broke for a 2-1 advantage in the second set but Ostapenko responded immediately and got the set back on serve.

Rain suspended play with Ostapenko serving at 3-3, 40-40 and players were taken off court for nearly 25 minutes.

Anisimova broke serve upon resumption of play and kept up her all-out attack strategy to wrap up the win after one hour and 21 minutes of play. Ostapenko finished the match with 10 double faults and has now fallen to 0-3 in WTA 1000 finals.

Still, the 27-year-old can take many positives from her week in Doha, where she defeated two top-five players - Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini - in the same tournament for the first time in her career.

“Of course it’s not the result that I wanted today but I really hope I will come back stronger and I hope that one day I will lift this trophy,” said Ostapenko.