Jelena Ostapenko defeated Barbora Krejcikova in a bizarre yet interesting third-round clash of two past French Open titlists on Sunday. The 2017 champion in Paris came through 7-6(2), 6-0 after 75 minutes. Starting the match, the 2021 Roland Garros winner built up a 5-1 lead in the opening set but then Ostapenko snatched the momentum from her pushing the set into the tie-break.
In the tie-break, the Latvian conceded only two points en route to taking the set. Bolstered by her showing in the first set, Ostapenko was even more dominant in the second set even as Krejcikova faded away without being able to come up with much of a counter-game.
Ostapenko had 21 winners, a dozen more than her opponent’s nine. She also had five fewer unforced errors to the latter’s 23. Ostapenko faced three break points, all of which came in the first set. While she was able to save only one of these, she retaliated by converting five of six break points on the Czech’s serve.
A two-time past quarter-finalist in Rome, Ostapenko will now play eighth seed Daria Kasatkina in the fourth round. Kasatkina won her third-round match against Julia Grabher, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2) after three hours and 19 minutes of play.
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