World No. 14 Jelena Ostapenko takes on world No. 23 Madison Keys in the round of 32 of the 2023 Qatar Open on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old had a great start to 2023 as she had a 5-0 record in the inaugural United Cup and played a vital role in the USA winning the 18-team tournament.
Keys took part in the Australian Open. She defeated Anna Blinkova and Xinyu Wang in the first couple of rounds before falling to Victoria Azarenka in the third round. The 2017 US Open finalist will be playing her first match since the loss to Azarenka.
The Latvian No. 1 will be taking part in her fifth tournament in 2023. She began the season by playing in the Adelaide International 1. After beating Karolina Pliskova in the first round, she lost to Irina-Camelia Begu in the round of 16. Ostapenko’s second consecutive loss came in the first round of the Adelaide International 2 against Anna Kalinskaya.
Ostapenko did well to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career. She defeated the likes of Dayana Yastremska, Anna Bondar, Kateryna Baindl, and 7th seed Coco Gauff before losing to eventual finalist Elena Rybakina. In the Abu Dhabi Open, she started strongly with a win against Danielle Collins in the first round. However, her run came to an end in the following round as she lost to eventual semifinalist Qinwen Zheng.
Madison Keys has a 3-1 lead in the head-to-head scoreline against Jelena Ostapenko. The American athlete emerged victorious in their most recent encounter in the round of 32 of the 2022 Western & Southern Open in straight sets 6-4, 7-5.
Prediction: Jelena Ostapenko to win in three sets.
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