Jelena Ostapenko Stuns Aryna Sabalenka To Win Stuttgart Final
Unseeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko won her first clay-court title in nearly eight years after a shock 6-4, 6-1 victory over World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Monday's Porsche Grand Prix final in Stuttgart.
Ostapenko, who last won a title on clay by clinching the 2017 French Open crown, also recorded her first-ever win over Sabalenka in four meetings.
With the victory, the Latvian jumped six places to No. 18 in the WTA rankings.
'I'm really, really happy with my performance in general this week,' Ostapenko said. "I was ready to play every single player because the draw here is so small. You have to be ready for the best, and I did that.
'I think the game was already very good but I have been working on my mental stuff. I understand what I have to do now. I believe in myself.'
Ostapenko defeated two seeded players on her way to the finale, knocking out seventh-seeded Emma Navarro in three sets in the round of 16 and second-seeded clay-court specialist Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.
She then capped off a memorable week in Stuttgart by beating Sabalenka in straight sets for her first singles title of the year, and ninth overall.
"Honestly, I didn't tell to anyone, I was keeping it to myself, but I felt very confident since the first day," Ostapenko told reporters. "I had, like, strange -- not strange but in a good way, strange feeling.
'When I came here, I felt like something is going to happen this week. I pretty much felt that I can win this tournament. Because I think I'm improving day by day and I'm playing better and better. Yeah, I think I deserve it."
The 27-year-old Ostapenko showed fierce baseline power and broke top-ranked Sabalenka six times during the match, including twice in the first set, as the Belarusian struggled with her first serve throughout.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka has now lost four Stuttgart finals in the past five seasons.
"I'm sure you hate me now because you wanted this car so badly, but I'm sure you'll get it another time," Ostapenko said about Porsche, the luxury car that tournament winners receive as a bonus prize.
Ostapenko will add a second Porsche to the Cayenne Turbo she already drives at home.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
2 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
After Venus Williams' comment on health insurance, here's what to know about athlete coverage
Venus Williams' recent singles win at the DC Open showcased her longevity and brought attention to health coverage for aging athletes after a joking comment she made in an on-court interview. 'I had to come back for the insurance,' the five-time Wimbledon champion said after Tuesday's match, her first in 16 months. 'They informed me this year that I'm on COBRA, so it's like, I got to get my benefits on.' The 45-year-old Williams, who has won seven major singles titles, became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis. After losing Thursday, she acknowledged that her comment on health insurance was a 'fun and funny moment.' The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, more commonly referred to as COBRA, allows Americans to stay on their employer's insurance plan for a limited amount of time after leaving their job. It comes with high costs. Williams' comment led to questions about health insurance in the sports world. For most active professional athletes, partially or fully subsidized health insurance is provided by their league or governing body and guaranteed in their collective bargaining agreement. A CBA is an agreement reached between a league and its players that guarantees certain levels of player compensation and benefits and can be renegotiated every few years. So when athletes are playing, they're usually covered. But Williams, coming back to the sport after a 16-month hiatus, brought to light how long that insurance lasts — or doesn't last — for athletes when they're not playing. In the WTA, the governing body of the women's tour, players are eligible to enroll in the health insurance plan if they are ranked in the top 500 in singles or top 175 in doubles and have played a minimum of three WTA 250 level or above tournaments that year. If players are in the top 150 in singles or top 50 in doubles, the WTA will pay a portion of the premiums. If a player is no longer eligible under those requirements, they can enroll in COBRA for up to 18 months, which is likely the situation Williams was referencing. That is also the WTA's only option for retiring players. 'Nobody wants to be on COBRA, right?' Williams said after her second-round loss Thursday night. 'That remains an issue in my life. … Obviously (the interview was) a fun and funny moment, but it's an issue that people are dealing with, so it is serious.' The ATP provides health insurance to men's tennis players who rank in the top 250 in singles or top 50 in doubles. All other players with a ranking point are given the opportunity to purchase health insurance through the ATP's provider. For retired players, the only option is COBRA for up to three years. As an individual sport without a CBA, golf tours vary. A group insurance plan is available to active members of the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions (for golfers over 50) and the feeder Korn Ferry Tour. For players who meet certain 'performance criteria,' including how many tournaments they played and how often they won, the PGA Tour will partially subsidize the plan. In retirement, players are responsible for their own insurance. Some players join the PGA Tour Champions after the PGA Tour and play into their mid-60s, during which they maintain coverage. Top players can receive a subsidy from the PGA Tour in retirement. The LPGA Tour started offering its players fully funded health insurance for the first time this year. Before this year, players were given a $4,000 stipend. NBA players have access to one of the most inclusive insurance plans in retirement. If they played at least three years in the league, retired NBA players are eligible for fully funded health insurance in retirement, and if they played at least 10 years, they will have health care covered for their entire family. WNBA players are fighting for retirement health care as part of their new CBA, which they are currently negotiating with the league. Those negotiations have been heated, and the most recent meeting between the sides last weekend did not result in an agreement. One unique facet of the WNBA's healthcare is that athletes who have spent more than eight years in the league can be reimbursed up to $20,000 a year for costs related to adoption, surrogacy, egg freezing or additional fertility treatments. The NFL has less long-term coverage for retirees than most other leagues. Athletes who played in the league for at least three years can remain on the NFL health insurance plan but only for five years into retirement. NHL players who have played more than 160 games in the league — about two seasons — are eligible to buy NHL health insurance for their retirement. The retirement insurance plan is eligible for partial subsidization from the league. Baseball players who spent at least four years in the majors have the option to pay premiums to stay on the MLB's health care plan indefinitely. Minor-league baseball has its own separate CBA, which also guarantees health insurance for active players. In the minors, however, players who get cut or leave the league lose coverage at the end of that month.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Raducanu and Fernandez beat the heat to reach DC Open semis
Britain's Emma Raducanu reached the brink of her first WTA final since winning the 2021 US Open, ousting Greece's Maria Sakkari 6-4, 7-5 on Friday at the DC Open. And the woman she defeated four years ago in that Flushing Meadows championship match, Canada's Leylah Fernandez, could be her opponent for the Washington hard court crown. Raducanu, who missed most of 2023 after hand and ankle surgery and part of last year with a left foot injury, reached her first WTA semi-final since last year at Nottingham by dispatching Sakkari in sweltering conditions of 95F (35C). "It was one of the toughest matches conditions-wise I've ever played in," Raducanu said. "Those points in the second set, I was getting a bit wobbly I'm just happy I could close it out and it was two sets. "I think the humidity here, as well, it just makes it feel completely like you have just opened an oven and it just stayed open and your head is in there. That's how it feels." Raducanu, in her only tour-level final, won the 2021 US Open as a teen qualifier over teen Fernandez, who advanced to the DC Open semi-finals by battling through leg cramps in the second set and saving a set point to oust American Taylor Townsend 6-4, 7-6 (7/4). Left-hander Fernandez will next face the winner of a later match between third seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and Polish fifth seed Magdalena Frech. In Saturday's other semi-final, Raducanu will face the later winner between Danish fourth seed Clara Tauson and Anna Kalinskaya. Raducanu, Britain's first women's Grand Slam singles champion since Virginia Wade in 1977 at Wimbledon, beat four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the second round before downing Sakkari in the quarter-finals, but not before a medical timeout in the second set. "Brutal conditions. Right in the peak heat of the day. It was incredibly difficult," Raducanu said. "I had to call a doctor on. Wasn't feeling too good in the second set. "When it's at that stage you know you're going to suffer and you have to just go until you physically can't anymore. It could be a little dangerous but you just leave it all out there on the court as an athlete." Raducanu rallied to win the final five games of the match. "You get to a point where you're so tired that you don't really know what you're doing anymore, and I think maybe that helped," Raducanu said. "I just really had to be smooth and conserve energy.... You just have to really be so focused." - 'Big benchmark' - Raducanu said reaching the semis was a "big benchmark" after years of injury. "I have played three great matches to be here in the semifinals, and it is the first semis in a long time," she said. "I'm really proud of that and just happy that all the hard work I've been doing is starting to pay off." Fernandez surrendered a break with a double fault to trail Townsend 3-4 in the second set and despite leg cramps broke the American on her eighth opportunity in the 10th game to level matters at 5-5 on the way to the tie-breaker. Fernandez has won three WTA titles, the 2021 and 2022 Monterrey Opens and the 2023 Hong Kong Open. Her most recent final was last year at Eastbourne. js/rcw
San Francisco Chronicle
5 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Following Venus Williams' comment on health insurance, here's what to know about athlete coverage
Venus Williams' recent singles win at the D.C. Open showcased her longevity and brought attention to health coverage for aging athletes following a joking comment she made in an on-court interview. 'I had to come back for the insurance,' the five-time Wimbledon champion said after Tuesday's match, her first in 16 months. 'They informed me this year that I'm on COBRA, so it's like, I got to get my benefits on.' The 45-year-old Williams, who has won seven major singles titles in her career, became the second-oldest woman to win a tour-level singles match in professional tennis with Tuesday's victory. After losing on Thursday, she acknowledged that her comment on health insurance was a 'fun and funny moment.' The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, more commonly referred to as COBRA, allows Americans to stay on their employer's insurance plan for a limited amount of time after leaving their job. It comes with high costs. Williams' comment led to questions about health insurance in the sports world. For most active professional athletes, partially or fully subsidized health insurance is provided by their league or governing body and guaranteed in their collective bargaining agreement. A CBA is an agreement reached between a league and its players that guarantees certain levels of player compensation and benefits, and can be renegotiated every few years. So when athletes are playing, they're usually covered. But Williams, coming back to the sport after a 16-month hiatus, brought to light how long that insurance lasts — or doesn't last — for athletes when they're not playing. Women's Tennis In the WTA, the governing body of the women's tour, players are eligible to enroll in the health insurance plan if they are ranked in the top 500 in singles or top 175 in doubles and have played a minimum of three WTA 250 level or above tournaments that year. If players are in the top 150 in singles or top 50 in doubles, the WTA will pay a portion of the premiums. If a player is no longer eligible under those requirements, they can enroll in COBRA for up to 18 months, which is likely the situation that Williams was referencing. That is also the WTA's only option for retiring players. 'Nobody wants to be on COBRA, right?' Williams said after her second-round loss on Thursday night. 'That remains an issue in my life … Obviously (the interview was) a fun and funny moment, but it's an issue that people are dealing with, so it is serious.' Men's Tennis The ATP provides health insurance to men's tennis players who rank in the top 250 in singles or top 50 in doubles. All other players with a ranking point are given the opportunity to purchase health insurance through the ATP's provider. For retired players, the only option is COBRA for up to three years. Golf As an individual sport without a CBA, golf tours vary. They do have a group insurance plan that is available to active members of the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champions (the tour for golfers over 50) and the Korn Ferry Tour (the feeder circuit for the PGA). For players who meet certain 'performance criteria,' including how many tournaments they played and how often they won, the PGA will partially subsidize the plan. In retirement, players are responsible for their own insurance. Some players join the PGA Tour Champions after the PGA Tour and play into their mid-60s, during which they maintain coverage. Top players can receive a subsidy from the PGA in retirement. The LPGA Tour, the women's professional golf tour, started offering its players fully funded health insurance for the first time this year. Before this year, players were given a $4,000 stipend. NBA NBA players have access to one of the most inclusive insurance plans in retirement. If they played at least three years in the league, retired NBA players are eligible for fully-funded health insurance in retirement, and if they played at least 10 years, they will have healthcare covered for their entire family. WNBA WNBA players are fighting for retirement healthcare as part of their new CBA, which they are currently negotiating with the league. Those negotiations have been heated, and the most recent meeting between the two sides last weekend did not result in an agreement. One unique facet of the W's healthcare is that athletes who have spent more than eight years in the league can be reimbursed up to $20,000 a year for costs related to adoption, surrogacy, egg freezing or additional fertility treatments. NFL The NFL has less long-term coverage for retirees than most other team sport leagues — athletes who played in the league for at least three years can remain on the NFL health insurance plan, but only for five years into retirement. NHL NHL players who have played more than 160 games with the league, which is about two seasons, are eligible to buy NHL health insurance for their retirement. The retirement insurance plan is eligible for partial subsidization from the league. MLB Baseball players who spent at least four years in the league have the option to pay premiums to stay on the MLB's healthcare plan indefinitely. Minor League Baseball has its own separate CBA, which also guarantees health insurance for active players. In the minors, however, players who get cut or leave the league lose coverage at the end of that month. ___
