Jelena Ostapenko maintained her perfect record against Iga Swiatek to end the Pole’s hopes of a fourth consecutive title at the Qatar Open.
This was the fifth meeting between the pair and big-hitting Latvian Ostapenko had won on each previous occasion.
Their last two matches had been close but Ostapenko was completely in charge in Doha, racing to a 6-3 6-1 victory in just an hour and eight minutes.
Swiatek, who on Thursday became the player with the longest winning run at the tournament with 15 straight victories, looked a shadow of her usual self as she went down to world No 37 Ostapenko.
The former French Open champion struck 31 winners compared to only eight for Swiatek, who slammed her racket to the ground in frustration after going 3-0 down in the second set.
It is the most one-sided defeat the world No 2 has suffered since a loss to Elena Rybakina at Indian Wells two years ago.
Ostapenko, 27, got off to a confident start by winning the opening two games before taking a 4-2 lead en route to winning the first set.
She produced an utterly dominant display in the second set to race to a 4-0 lead before wrapping up the win.
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Watch Ostapenko’s reaction as Swiatek smashes her racket after a frustrating second set
“I feel like this court has a special energy,” said Ostapenko in her on-court interview.
“I was pretty confident that I would beat her because we’ve played a lot of matches and I kind of know how to play against her. I’m really happy with the way I’m handling my emotions this week. I’m just so happy to be in the final.”
Next up for Ostapenko is world No 41 Amanda Anisimova, who stormed past Russian world No 26 Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3 6-3 in one hour and 30 minutes to reach her second WTA 1000 final.
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