Jelena Ostapenko joins illustrious list of women to defeat World No.1 and No.2 at same event on clay following Stuttgart Open title run
WTA
Latvian tennis star Jelena Ostapenko accomplished several feats following her title run at the 2025 Stuttgart Open, amongst which was being one of few women to take down the two best players in the world at a clay event.
The 27-year old is no stranger to clay, having won her only Grand Slam title at the 2017 French Open. However, Ostapenko played some of the best tennis of her career to deny World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka the elusive Stuttgart title, sending the big-hitting Belarusian packing with a comprehensive 6-4 6-1 victory.
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Ostapenko writes her name in tennis history
The former World No.5 looked impressive during her run in Stuttgart, However, she saved her best tennis for the final, overpowering a stunned Sabalenka. Even more impressive was the fact that Ostapenko had defeated World No.2 and former champion Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, improving to 6-0 in career meetings against the Polish superstar.
Ostapenko's victory on Sunday saw her achieve a rare feat on the WTA tour, she became the first woman since American tennis legend Serena Williams to defeat the World No.1 and World No.2 on clay at the same event. Williams last accomplished this feat at the 2012 Madrid Open, where the 23-time Grand Slam champion made quick work of No.2 ranked Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinal, before cruising past then-World No.1 Victoria Azarenka in the final. This would be the second time Williams had accomplished such a feat, having defeated No.2 Jennifer Capriati and World No.1 Venus Williams at the 2002 French Open.
Moving up six spots to World No.18, Ostapenko joins an exclusive list of women to accomplish this feat. Besides Williams, tennis greats such as Gabriela Sabatini (Amelia Island 1989), Steffi Graf (French Open 1999), Justine Henin (French Open 2003) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (French Open 2009) have all overcome the odds to achieve this impressive statistic.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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