Has there ever been a matchup in tennis quite like Jelena Ostapenko vs. Iga Swiatek?

Has there ever been ever been a matchup like the one between Iga Swiatek and Jelena Ostapenko? Has a significantly lower-ranked player ever dominated a long-running No. 1, and multiple major-title winner, as thoroughly as the Latvian dominates the Pole?

The sixth edition of this unique, upside-down conflict took place in the Stuttgart Open quarterfinals on Saturday. Ostapenko had won the first five, and had been in total control in their only previous meeting in 2025, in Doha. But this was their first match on clay, a surface where Swiatek reigns supreme, and it was their first match in Stuttgart, where she’s a two-time champ. Would that be enough to change the dynamics and give Iga a boost?

Not exactly.

“She’s a great clay-court player, but I won [Roland Garros], so I can say the same thing for myself,” Ostapenko said, reminding everyone that she had also won the world’s biggest clay event, back in 2017.

You could see from the start that Ostapenko, despite being ranked 22 spots below Swiatek, (24 to 2), is the alpha in this relationship. At 0-1, Swiatek began her opening service game with two double faults, and Ostapenko finished it with two return winners, one from each wing.

That was essentially the end of the first set, as Ostapenko continued to get in the first strike, continued to rush Swiatek, continued to connect on her returns, and broke again for a 4-0 lead.

“I tried to be aggressive today, to take time away from her,” the famously free-swinging Ostapenko said, as if anyone would expect her to play any other way. “Because when she has time, she’s playing very well.”

The first set ended 6-3 in favor of Ostapenko, as it had in Doha in February. Yet despite all of her previous defeats, Swiatek wasn’t showing any signs of capitulation. She was fist-pumping even when she was down 1-5, and she managed to slow Ostapenko’s momentum by getting one of the breaks back. Swiatek had the energy; she just needed an opening.

Ostapenko finally gave it to her at 1-1 in the second set. With Swiatek serving at 30-30, Ostapenko rifled one of her customary winning returns past her to reach break point. At 30-40, Swiatek missed her first serve, spun in her second, and watched helplessly as Ostapenko set up for another blistering forehand return. This time, though, the ball flew long. Finally, she had failed to punish the Pole when she had the chance.

Swiatek capitalized on the rare opportunity right away. She held for 2-1, broke at love for 1-3, and broke again at 3-4. Swiatek’s serve was no longer sitting up, and her forehand held sway in the rallies. It was Ostapenko’s turn to double fault and spray ground strokes.

Was this the moment Iga had been waiting for, when she finally shook Ostapenko off her back?

Again, not exactly.

Instead, the tide of the match swung back in Ostapenko’s direction. After another double fault in her first service game, she gritted her teeth, bore down, and held serve. In the next game, the floodgates reopened. Ostapenko ripped off three straight backhand winners to break. Maybe more impressive, though, was the way she closed the match, by grinding out tough holds in deuce games, and using her first serve to lock down clutch points and keep Swiatek from regaining any hope.

“In the third set, I said, ‘OK, the second set is done, I will fight until the end and we’ll see what happens.’”

Ostapenko even admitted to dialing back her aggression for once.

“I feel like the last game, I wasn’t playing fearless,” she said after her 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win. “I was just trying to put in as many balls as possible to win the match.”

We’ll forgive her that moment of conservatism, because otherwise, she took the points to her opponent, and competed with an extra edge and sense of purpose, the way she always does against Swiatek.

“Every time I step on the court with her, it’s another battle, I’m ready for it,” said Ostapenko, who moves on to face Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semifinals on Sunday. “Even if I don’t feel great on the day, I will just fight, and leave it all on the court.”

There’s never been a matchup quite like it.