Williams fights off Ostapenko to win at WTA finals

Embed from Getty Images

Venus Williams had plenty of discipline and experience to overcome a very tough match at the WTA finals Tuesday. The top ranked American and oldest player in the tournament went the distance against Jelena Ostapenko in the second round robin to win 7-5, 6-7(3), 7-5 at Singapore Indoor Stadium. The victory kept the only American in the tournament while sending the Latvian closer to an exit.

Both suffered losses in their first game of the round Robin with one guaranteed to pick up their first win. Though both went against strong opponents, the American and Latvian had reasons for being in the tournament. Ostapenko’s aggressive style played a factor in her fight against Muguruza and would challenge the American for a second time like she did at Wimbledon. The veteran of the sport scored just four games against Karolina Pliskova Sunday with the knowledge that she would have to win every game going forward to fight for a semifinal spot.

A struggling start for Williams gave Ostapenko the win that didn’t come easy for her. She as well had errors in the rallies with the American that led them both to deuce. It took the 20-year-old two breaks to get into form and capture the first break in response. Williams had a better hold of her return game that made it slightly easier for her to capture a break. The two played on serve with Williams carrying the slight advantage of control. When the fifth came into play, the young Latvian broke the American, gaining back the lead with her aggressive style showing on court.

Williams followed suit on the breaks but as the seventh concluded, Ostapenko took control of the set reaching a critical 5-3 hold that slipped away from her. Williams fought back hard to level the score at five all before a lot of focus and tenacity gave her the 7-5 victory in the set that took almost an hour to finish. The American superstar knew that she didn’t have a clean break to the finish line scoring just 63 percent on the first serve. Keeping the unforced errors low was one of her keys to victory as the Latvian had too many errors to her winners.

Williams reminded of her that with a two-game lead to start the second. She was surprised when the young Latvian fought back to level the score and then take point in leading the two onward. Through the next few games, it was a fight for control with Williams trying to find ways to edge Ostapenko. Success in the ninth game gave Williams first chance at ending the match on her own terms with the French Open champion needing a hold to stay alive.

She pulled out the very important serve to level the match at five all putting Williams into a situation where a third set loomed over her head. Ostapenko won a key break that gave her the threatening move leading 6-5. In response to the 20-year-old, the very experienced veteran held her ground and scored the tying break to go into a tiebreak.

Williams had a short lead in the beginning but Ostapenko gained points on her adversary committing double faults at the worst time. It turned control to the 20-year-old who went on to win 6-3 and send the two into a deciding set. it took 67 minutes to determine the fate of the set with Ostapenko doing much better on the winners to errors ratio.

She faced a 0-40 hole on serve in the opening game of the third but rallied all the way back to deuce. With her force and control from the previous set, the 20-year-old held on to her serve to set the pace. Williams followed suit before consolidating a service hold in the third that gave her the break. It continued that way for five games with Ostapenko fighting to recover from the deficits she faced at times.

The biggest moment arrived in the ninth with the Latvian overcoming another 0-40 hole to force deuce with the American. They went deep into the draw until a huge point came for the 20-year-old securing the hold and a 5-4 lead to go for the match. Williams didn’t make it easy as she easily held on serve to level the score and push the match to the distance.

Control in the 11^th was dramatic to a high degree as each player fought for the AD point. It took four breaks before the former number one achieved victory to serve for the match on her terms. She broke open a 40-0 run before a fight from Ostapenko emerged. She put it to rest with a big hit to the corner that ended a marathon match that spanned 3 hours and 13 minutes.

“Sometimes you need some luck,” Williams said to Andrew Krasny after the match. “I don’t know if there was any luck for me tonight. I just had to work for every point so everyone is playing well here and I’m lucky to get through here tonight.”  She’ll hope her skills bring more luck on Thursday facing Garbine Muguruza in the final round robin match.