Jelena Ostapenko pulled off a stunning performance at the J&T Banka Ostrava Open Wednesday. The former French Open champion rallied from a rough start against Petra Martic And took her down in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 on center court at the Ostravar Arena. It was her best tennis of the season as adjustments to the court began to suit her to dominate.
The Latvian met the Croatian for the third time with not a single match win against her yet. That could change as her run at Strasbourg and Paris was a major push to turn her whole game around. With improvements under the coaching of Tomas Hogstedt, the 23-year-old eyed another chance to dig into Czechia and bring her signature offense to the indoor courts. Ostapenko last won an indoor tournament in Luxembourg and would try to go 2 for 2 while ending her skid against Martic.
Her service game didn’t start well as two double faults put her 0-40 down. She managed to save two but not a third, handing the early break to Martic. The Croatian consolidated the break for a 2-0 lead allowing Ostapenko two points. The Latvian got on the board in the third and consolidated with a break leveling the score. She fell behind on serve in the fifth but rallied from 15-40 to force deuce and notch a third win. The sixth was a huge statement as Ostapenko recorded her 13th winner against Martic for the double break.
Facing a short deficit on serve in the seventh, Ostapenko rallied back to force deuce where it took her two breaks to secure the fifth straight game over Martic who faced the edge of defeat. The fifth seed dug in to end the winning streak of her opponent but faced the Latvian who served for the set. She recorded her 19th winner right on the first point and coasted to victory with three set points to win the first in 33 minutes. The Latvian totaled 20 winners in her success over the Croatian who won less than 50 percent of points from the first and second serve and lost on seven of eight breakpoints that Ostapenko won.
The winners continued to come from the forehand of the Latvian who opened the second set with a break of the fifth seed before consolidating it with a hold. She achieved the double break, smashing the returns to Martic who couldn’t answer them as well as she wanted. The Croatian got on the board in the fifth but it was a long way from coming back as the Latvian closed in on victory.
Ostapenko notched another easy win on serve in the sixth to play against Martic who was on the verge of going down hard. The 23-year-old returned well while Martic erred to give Ostapenko two match points. A crosscourt winner capped the victory that took her 57 minutes to accomplish. It was the 30th that she had in the match compared to Martic’s nine.
“In the beginning, I couldn’t get used to this court,” Ostapenko said during her on-court interview. “It’s a little bit different but then I was playing aggressive and not going for every shot. I was trying to play smart using drop shots and, in the end, I was killing her with winners and play very confidently.”
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