A "more mature" Jelena Ostapenko is feeling confident as ever

Before Sunday, the last time Jelena Ostapenko won multiple singles titles in the same season was 2017—the year the Latvian broke through by winning her first tour-level crown at Roland Garros no less.

It’s only the first week of February and Ostapenko is well on her way to compiling a career best year having already collected a pair of WTA 500 trophies. In January at Adelaide, she dropped the first set of her tournament 6-2 to Sorana Cirstea but ended that week as champion, defeating Daria Kasatkina for the title.

A similar scenario played out in Linz, when the top seed lost her opening set to Clara Tauson and later faced match point against the Dane. Ostapenko would end up reeling off eight consecutive sets to celebrate her eighth career singles triumph, posting successive 6-2, 6-3 victories over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Ekaterina Alexandrova, respectively, to end her week on a notable high.

“The first match was really hard to play. I didn’t really get used to the conditions, just came from Australia one day and I had to play,” Ostapenko said in a post-match interview with WTA Media. “So it was very tough conditions. I never give up, I’m such a fighter.”

The 26-year-old made an impressively quick turnaround after contesting her first Grand Slam women’s doubles final alongside Lyudmyla Kichenok at the Australian Open. During their runner-up finish in Melbourne, Ostapenko and Kichenok survived four match points in their second round against home hopefuls Kimberly Birrell and Olivia Gadecki and came within a win of adding to their opening week title run at the Brisbane International.

“It's like four tournaments and four finals, which is really great. I’m just happy with the way I’m playing this year. I feel like I’m more mature and more confident with my game,” Ostapenko said.

Of Ostapenko’s eight singles titles, all have come at different tournaments. The Riga native, who previously lost the 2019 Linz final to a then 15-year-old Coco Gauff, had more than winning on her mind when it came to joining the honor roll of champions at the indoor event.

“I’m really happy to get such a beautiful trophy. I think it’s one of the most beautiful trophies I’ve ever won,” declared Ostapenko after raising up the custom piece of Swarovski hardware.

With her efforts, Ostapenko jumped one spot to No. 11 in Monday’s rankings. She has won 13 of 15 singles matches contested in 2024 so far, with both of her losses coming at the hands of Victoria Azarenka. Ostapenko withdrew from this week's WTA event in Abu Dhabi, where she was the No. 5 seed.