French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko overcame a mid-match blip to defeat China’s Duan Yingying in the second round of the Australian Open.
The Latvian seventh seed struggled with her consistency throughout the roller-coaster encounter, which featured 13 breaks of serve. After clinching the opening set in 34 minutes, Ostapenko began to unravel due to a series of impressive shots produced by world No.100 Duan. Who grabbed back-to-back breaks to seal the second set.
Despite the scare, Ostapenko’s fighting spirit helped her secure a place in the third round as she charged to a 4-1 lead in the decider. This time the deficit was too much for her opponent to make up as she closed her match out with the help of a forehand from Duan landing out.
Following her win, Ostapenko paid tribute to the performance produced by the Chinese player. 28-year-old Duan has been ranked as high as 60th in the world and currently has one WTA title to her name.
“My opponent was playing well today and it was really tough for me because she was hitting the ball very hard.” Ostapenko said during her on-court interview.
“I mean, it was unbelievable tennis from her and I’m really happy that I could win the match.”?
The mixed performance from the 20-year-old saw her hit 35 winners to 29 unforced errors and convert seven out of her 13 break point opportunities. As one of only two reigning grand slam champions left in the Melbourne draw, Ostapenko knows she has her work cut out if she wish to claim another major title.
“I have a lot of confidence, but on the other side everybody wants to beat you.” She about the consequences of winning the French Open. “Everybody is preparing very well to play against you, so it is a little bit tougher this year.”
“But I am still happy with my performance (today).” She added.
Ostapenko will next take on either 32nd seed Anett Kontaveit or Germany’s Mona Barthel.
Elsewhere at Melbourne Park, there was a duo of shocks for Russian seeds Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Daria Kasatkina. 15th seed Pavlyuchenkova could only win five games during her 6-2, 6-3, loss to Kateryna Bondarenko. Meanwhile Kasatkina (seeded 22nd) crashed out 7-6(4), 6-2, to Magda Linette.
