Winners aplenty rained from the racquet of Jelena Ostapenko at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha on Thursday, as the No.15 seed from Latvia dismissed No.5 seed Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain 6-2, 6-2.

It took 2016 Doha runner-up Ostapenko just 66 minutes to defeat Muguruza, a two-time Doha finalist including last year, and collect a new career-best winning streak of nine in a row.

Words from the winner: "I knew it was going to be a tough match against her," Ostapenko said in her post-match press conference. "But I really knew I also have to be aggressive and take time away from her, which I think I did pretty well, and I was dictating the game today.

"Of course it's great to have so many matches winning, but the tournament is still not over. I hope I can keep winning here still in Doha. I'm just working on some things and getting more confident, and I think it's going to help my game."

By the numbers: 2017 Roland Garros champion Ostapenko continues a spotless run, as she has now won nine straight matches for the first time in her career. Ostapenko has been unstoppable in the Middle East so far this season, winning her fifth career WTA singles title last week in Dubai.

Former Top 5 player Ostapenko has 14 match-wins in total so far this season. Her ranking of No.13 this week marks the first time she is in the Top 20 since October of 2018.

Ostapenko went 0-3 against Top 10 players at the beginning of this year, but she has now won her last three in a row against that echelon. Her victory over World No.9 Muguruza is the 16th Top 10 win of her career.

The powerful play of Ostapenko pulled her to the win over Muguruza. Ostapenko had a whopping 39 winners in the match, compared to just five from Muguruza. Ostapenko's winner total well outpaced her 21 unforced errors to keep that differential wholly positive.

Ostapenko was equally ruthless returning the Muguruza second serve, claiming 15 of those 18 points (83 percent). Muguruza still leads the head-to-head 3-2, but this was their first match since 2017.

Match moments: It took Ostapenko only three games to reach 10 winners as she charged to a quick 3-0 lead. Muguruza drew errors from Ostapenko to pull back on serve at 3-2, but that was only a minor blip from the Latvian as she ran off the next three games to take a one-set lead after half and hour.

In the second set, Ostapenko won a pivotal eight-minute game, converting her fourth break point of that game to lead 3-1 and take control for good. Ostapenko was broken once more when she served for the match at 5-1, but it again just delayed the inevitable as she slammed two consecutive return winners in the next game to seal the win.

More from Doha: Kontaveit extends winning streak, Sakkari bests Gauff to reach Doha SFs

Baltic rematch awaits: Into the Doha semifinals for the second time in her career, Ostapenko will now face the most recent player to beat her: No.4 seed Anett Kontaveit of Estonia. Kontaveit took out Ostapenko in the St. Petersburg semifinals earlier this month.

Swiatek topples Sabalenka

In the nightcap clash, No.7 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland zipped past No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 14 minutes to reach the semifinals.

Current World No.2 Sabalenka had won their only prior encounter in group play at the WTA Finals last season, but this time around it was Swiatek who was the dominant force to level their head-to-head. Swiatek is now 2-5 against Top 2 opponents in her career.

With the defeat, 2020 Doha champion Sabalenka will fall out of the World No.2 position, a spot she has held since August 23 of last year.

2020 Roland Garros champion Swiatek converted seven of her eight break points on the day. The Pole was also much more effective winning after first serves, as she won 68 percent of those points. Sabalenka's success rate behind her own first serves lingered at 41 percent.

"This match is going to give me a lot of confidence," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. "I'm very happy that tactically I did a great job, and my mental game was also on point. That's the most important thing for me, because from the beginning I wanted to be aggressive and to be focusing on myself and on my game." 

Six of the first seven games of the clash went to the returner, which put Swiatek at a distinct advantage as the lone hold in the second game of that streak contributed to her 5-2 lead. Another critical hold followed in the next game, giving Swiatek the opening set.

Sabalenka grabbed an early break and a 3-0 lead in the second set, but with extremely powerful forehands in her assortment of shots, Swiatek methodically chipped away at that advantage. Swiatek reeled off six games in a row from there to pick up the straight-set win.

Swiatek will take on No.6 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece for a spot in the final. Swiatek and Sakkari have met three times previously, all in 2021, and Sakkari emerged the winner each time, including in last year's Roland Garros quarterfinals where the Greek ended Swiatek's title defense.