For the first time in six years, Jelena Ostapenko has produced multiple wins over top-five players within the same season following her latest victory at the China Open.
The Latvian knocked out world No.4 Jessica Pegula 6-4, 6-2, in the third round of the tournament on Wednesday. Ostapenko managed to break her opponent five times during their match and won 64% of her first service points. It is only the second time in five attempts that she has beaten Pegula on the Tour. The first time she did so was at the 2015 Quebec Open.
“I think I always play quite well in China,” wtatennis.com quoted Ostapenko as saying afterward. “Finally tournaments are back here and with a lot of fans, which I like a lot.
“I think after the US Open I had a little bit more confidence and I had really good preparation before the US Open. I felt like some matches, even during the year, they were close matches. I was losing them but they were very close. I felt like at some point they have to go my way. It’s working now.”
It is the second time in as many months that Ostapenko has beaten a top-five player after the US Open where she stunned Iga Swiatek in the fourth round. She has now reached the last eight or better at six WTA events so far this season. However, her only title triumph was on grass at the Birmingham International.
Reflecting on her latest match, Ostapenko said the court she played on at the China Open was ‘very slow’ but she made no mention of the ball quality. Throughout the tournament, both female and male players have commented about the types of balls being used with Daniil Medvedev saying they go ‘big and fluffy’ after they have been used for a couple of shots.
“Just in general, I think I played well but it was not easy because the court was very slow and the rallies were super long. I felt the court is a bit slower than other tournaments,” she said.
“I felt like if you go for very dangerous shots it didn’t really work on these courts,” Ostapenko said.” So I tried to open the point up and when I had the chance, just to finish it. Playing more angles worked pretty well.”
This week is Ostapenko’s 58th appearance at a WTA 1000 event with her best results being runner-up twice at the 2016 Doha Open and 2018 Miami Open.
