Jelena Ostapenko fired on all cylinders to advance to the third round of the French Open Wednesday. Making her efforts look so easy, the 19 year old took care of business against
Monica Puig winning 6-3, 6-2 on Court 17 on the grounds of Roland Garros. It was her second time beating the Olympic champion
The 19 year old had Puig down; stunning her in terrific fashion last year in Rome. The then 18 year old tennis star won 6-1, 6-1 in the second round that no doubt had her remembering it going into the second round of the French Open. Though she had a put a lot of work in to beat Louisa Chirico, the Latvian’s competitive spirit got her back into another similar situation with the now reigning Olympic gold medalist. The Puerto Rican was more than ready to teach the teen a lesson after handling Roberta Vinci in their opening round. With the monotony broken for everyone in the tournament, business was at hand for both stars to keep their best foots forward.
Each began with a solid opening service game that quickly lead to a fight for a break from Puig’s end. She forced deuce with Ostapenko to the point of a long extension of the game. After 13 minutes and nine breaks later, the Latvian secured her second serve on a forehand winner. Puig brought the pace back to normal but the competitive spirt of her opponent remained a tough force. She got out of trouble in the fourth but realized the journey to a set winner would be a difficult path.
The Latvian made it so with a break in the fifth, consolidating it with a service hold in the very next game. Her success turned into a runaway taking a 5-2lead on the Puerto Rican. With the set nearing an end, Puig pulled off an important service hold in the eighth in order to stay alive. It was the last win she would get as the teen shut down Puig on serve ending the set in 42 minutes.
Ostapenko was having the run of her day on court taking each game by storm over Puig who couldn’t get a grip on her game going into the second. Though she won two games, the Latvian already grew a sizable lead that had her in motion to sweep the match by all means. The seventh game became critical for Puig who served for a chance at staying a game down but the efforts of the teen were still heavily in her favor.
She finished things with a line drive winner on the return that gave her the ball to serve for the match. With a show of force, Ostapenko pulled off a perfect love service to capture the victory in one hour and nine minutes yet again showing her strength of the game. She’ll get her best chance to prove herself when she faces the winner between Ekaterina Makarova and Lesia Tsurenko in round three.
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