Jelena Ostapenko outraged many with her behavior a week ago in Doha. But in the match with the Russian, she “changed her shoes.”
The tennis player from Latvia remembered what winning meant and started the new season encouragingly for her fans, returning to the top 10.
But she was not ready to respect all her rivals. Ostapenko provocatively ended her match against Azarenka a week ago without shaking Victoria’s hand. So now beating a Latvian is a matter of honor for every Russian woman.
Kalinskaya pulled it off and forced Elena to make a difficult choice.
Conflict between two champions
After the long-awaited title, which Elena won in early February at a tournament in Linz, Ostapenko came to Qatar with the desire to continue her climb to the top. After triumphant seasons in 2016–2018, when the young tennis player won Roland Garros and reached the top 5 of the WTA rankings, her career gradually declined.
But at the beginning of this year, the 26-year-old athlete again reached the top ten. And in the third round of the “thousander” in Doha, on her way is the former first racket of the world Victoria Azarenka, to whom the Latvian lost all four previous meetings.
The match in Qatar was no exception: discouraging 0:6, 3:6, apparently, forced Ostapenko to lose control and infuriated the champion. The traditional handshake turned into the subject of long discussions, because Lena, instead of a palm, handed her opponent… a racket.
It looked like a thrown bone. The gesture, of course, offended the experienced Belarusian athlete, so in response she simply looked at Ostapenko with contempt and refused such a handshake.
Have you thought better of it?
After this conflict, some experts noted that the whole point is the ban, which was adopted at the state level in February in Latvia. Now Latvians are prohibited from competing together with Russian and Belarusian athletes.
However, Elena spoke, that is, she had already violated the formal rule. It took a week to figure out what was more in Ostapenko’s behavior, politics or resentment for the defeat. In Dubai, again in the third round, she lost to our compatriot Anna Kalinskaya.
Before the Australian Open 2024, few people had heard about the Russian from the basement of the top hundred, but at the first Grand Slam of the season she reached the quarterfinals. The 25-year-old tennis player started the tournament in the UAE in 40th position in the WTA rankings, Ostapenko was 9th.
However, this did not matter to Anya. Although the Latvian tennis player immediately made a break and led 3:0, Kalinskaya won back the gap in the seventh game and then again took her opponent’s serve. Losing 1:4, the Russian won the first set – 6:4.
Ostapenko again started the second game with a break, but now she was unable to maintain this advantage for at least a couple of games. Anna immediately responded. In general, with an equal game, Kalinskaya made slightly fewer mistakes, which was the key to her success.
In the 11th game, Ostapenko made several mistakes, but the Russian, on the contrary, received well and earned two break points. It was possible to implement the groundwork immediately. Despite the crucial moment and the active play of Elena, who earned two break points, our tennis player did not allow her to return to the match – 6:4, 7:5.
The most interesting thing was what happened next: Ostapenko headed towards the net and… easily extended her palm to the Russian woman. What happened to Elena in seven days? Did she stop respecting the decision of her state or was the protest against Azarenka dictated by personal motives? Apparently, Kalinskaya simply made the Latvian change her mind.
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
Austrian tennis player Sebastian Ofner (ATP 131) suffered a disappointing defeat in the second round of the 2026 Australian Open qualifiers.
In the semi-finals of the selection, the Austrian player lost to the US representative in three sets Nisheshu Basavareddy (ATP 239) in 2 hours 32 minutes. Basavareddy took the victory over Ofner in the third set super tiebreaker.
Sebastian was ahead 7:1 in the super tiebreaker and started celebrating his victory after gaining a point. Sebastian started walking towards the goal and the referee told him the match wasn’t over yet.
As a result, Ofner lost 11:13 and missed two match points: one at 10:9 on the return, the other at 11:10 on serve.
Basavareddy will compete against George Loffagen (Great Britain, ATP 211) in the Australian Open qualifying final.
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On January 14, all second round matches in tough tournaments ended WTA 500 in Adelaide And WTA 250 in HobartIt will take place parallel to the Australian Open 2026 qualifying match (Melbourne).
In Adelaide, Dayana Yastremskaya’s felon Katerina Sinyakova lost to Diana Schneider in the second round.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Second-seeded five-hundred Madison Keys knocked out Tereza Valentova, and eighth-seeded Victoria Mboko fought Anna Kalinskaya.
Victoria Mboko [8] – 🏳️ Anna Kalinskaya – 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (8:6) Teresa Valentova – Madison Keys [2] – 4:6, 1:6
WTA 500 Adelaide. Quarter final matches
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🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – Ayla Tomljanovic [WC]
🏳️Diana Schneider [9] – Emma Navarro [6]
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Kimberly Birrell- Jacqueline Christian [Q] Victoria Mboko [8] – Madison Keys [2]
Video review of match day in Adelaide
In Hobart, top seed Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarter-finals without a fight – Magdalena French withdrew from her second round match.
Olga Danilovich, who defeated McCartney Kessler and advanced to the second place, also defeated Peyton Stearns in the 1/8 final.
Third-seeded Iva Jovic crushes her opponents: The young American first gave up just one game to Janice Tjen and then defeated Renata Sarasua with scores of 6:1, 6:2. Her next opponent will be Magda Linette.
WTA 250 Hobart. 1/8 final
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Emma Raducanu [1] – Magdalena French – WO., Raducanu Rebecca Shramkova – Talia Preston [WC] – 4:6, 1:6
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(Adelaide) Leylah Annie Fernandez and her Hungarian playing partner Timea Babos fell 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6) and 6-10 to the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the Chinese Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Adelaide tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Fernandez and Babos bowed after a tight duel lasting one hour and 59 minutes in front of the second seeds of the doubles tournament.
Siniakova and Zhang will face Kazakh Anna Danilina and Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, fourth seeds in the doubles, in the final four.
The Quebecoise, 22e world racket, lost to Russian Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-3 in singles on Monday.
Furthermore, Ontario’s Victoria Mboko, eighth seed, will meet in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles with American Madison Keys, second seed, at the end of the evening.
Mboko is playing her first official WTA singles tournament in 2026, and her first since Hong Kong, which she won, in November 2025.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
Maria Bouzkova [LL] – 6:3, 6:1
