Iga Swiatek asked 'why on earth' she can't defeat Jelena Ostapenko and she has the answer to hoodoo

Jelena Ostapenko has the number of Iga Swiatek but the Pole admits she knows how to answer the call and win despite falling to 6-0 against the Latvian at the Stuttgart Open.

Usually a perennial champion at the Stuttgart Open, she is a Porsche ambassador and apart from last year was imperious in this event. But Ostapenko always seems to get one over her.

She was asked afterwards 'why on earth' she cannot defeat the former Roland Garros champion. Swiatek said that unlike before she wasn't smashing everything perfectly when she was merely the better player.

Ostapenko admitted herself that it started feeling like hitting old tennis balls and fell flat afterwards so it checks out but Swiatek said she couldn't take what she wasn't given in terms of mistakes.

“Well, I think today was a tight match, so for sure I had my chances to win. Before, like, for sure, like, these matches were different. Like, she went for it and she was smashing every ball kind of perfectly. Today she didn't, she made some mistakes. I had my chances. I just didn't use them.”

While she was also asked if she went through tactics pre-match and she said she didn't. But that she knows what it takes and showed it during the second set she won.

But that she just couldn't hold it for the remainder in the end. Time will tell if she does make it 6-1 and cuts the gap. "Honestly, I wasn't able to play anything before, like, any tactics. No, it was pretty simple, and I knew what I need to do. I did that in the second set, so it was just a matter of like, keeping it for the whole match.”

Next up is the Madrid Open where she is defending champion and she will find out her draw fate on Sunday afternoon.