Jasmine Paolini vs Jelena Ostapenko Tips, Prediction & Live Stream - Ostapenko gunning for top five scalp in Doha

Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Qinwen Zheng, Paula Badosa and Emma Navarro have already been bounced from the Qatar Open and I'm backing another top 10 players to suffer elimination here. Paolini has a mountain of pressure on her in the next few months to defend a truckload of her ranking points, starting next week with her Dubai title. The Italian has lost seven of her last 10 matches against top 50 opponents since September last year and hasn't impressed so far in 2025. Ostapenko won the only previous meeting between the pair and is a former runner-up in Doha - good chance for the Latvian to rise to the occasion and take a top five scalp.

As mentioned, Ostapenko prevailed in the only previous tour-level encounter between the pair, winning their 2023 US Open opening round by a 6-2 4-6 6-1 score.

Paolini experienced a whirlwind 2024 season, making two Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and Roland Garros among other achievements, but now comes the hard part - backing it all up and remaining inside the top 10.

The Italian has experienced a solid, but unspectacular start to the 2025 season, winning two of her three United Cup matches (lost to Karolina Muchova) and reaching the third round of the Australian Open, where she was upstaged by Elina Svitolina.

Paolini had never won a match in Doha before this tournament, but she got off the mark with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Caroline Garcia after an opening round bye.

Ostapenko runs hot and cold and she was freezing since her Wimbledon quarter-final run last year, going 2-9 before arriving in Doha.

The Latvian lost three of her four matches during the Australian swing, suffering a loss in the opening round at Melbourne Park to Belinda Bencic, which in hindsight, was a very tough draw.

The former French Open champion went out in the opening round of Abu Dhabi last week against Ons Jabeur (another difficult draw), but has returned to form this week in Doha, beating Aoi Ito and Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets to reach the R16.

Ostapenko has played well in Doha in the past, making the final in 2016 and the semis in 2022.