Jelena Ostapenko showed her dangerous tactics at the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships Monday night. The Latvian hit big and hard against Patricia Maria Tig winning her opening round 6-3, 6-3 on Court One at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.
The two met for the first time and for the Latvian, getting a main draw start against the Romanian left her with options to adapt. Despite her round of 16 loss in Doha last week, Ostapenko entered her fourth main draw in Dubai with a mission to get out of the opening round this season. With coach Marion Bartoli back in her corner, the 23-year-old regained the patience to control her service, limit the errors and double faults and wreak havoc upon her opponents. Tig didn’t make it to the draw last week but worked her way to the draw for the first time in the Emirate city.
It paid off for the Romanian during the first game when Ostapenko chose to serve it out. With trouble on the first serve for the Latvian, Tig managed to reach three break points and held her opponent to love. Ostapenko broke back to love in the second as Tig couldn’t keep up with the strong ball striking from across the court. The third saw the Romanian get into the game on a double fault and an error to force deuce. It was there that they fought through four breaks fighting off errors before Tig went on to take the double break.
Neither one had secured a hold of serve in the set until the fifth when Ostapenko consolidated the double break, with a hold to love against Tig. The aggressive tactics that the Latvian assembled paid off in the sixth, capturing a triple break on Tig, who couldn’t keep up with the pace of shots. The 23-year-old went on hold Tig to a point on serve, setting up her chance to break one more time for the set.
The Romanian refused to lose on serve, overcoming her second double fault on well-placed shots thereafter. Tig had game point, and Ostapenko to one point right before she painted the left baseline to win it on a challenge. The Latvian served for the first and showed her resilience, running for a short return to smash it right back. The 23-year-old took the first on a second serve shot that came back long from Tig, ending her quest for a comeback in 31 minutes.
The 26-year-old wanted to do better in the second and showed Ostapenko her fighting spirit on serve. Keeping the Latvian back, Tig held herself together on a break of deuce taking the victory with a winner down the line. She had a chance for a break back, leading the Latvian in the second. Errors killed all three break points as Ostapenko took over on service to hold after a break.
She went on to consolidate the hold with a break, but when it came to serving, Ostapenko struggled with the first serve. It gifted free points for Tig, who forced deuce and fought for the AD point. The Latvian was forced to fight as well, losing on seven AD points with errors or breaks from the Romanian. After eight breaks on deuce and 11 minutes of play, Ostapenko got the win on a long return from Tig earning her a 3-1 lead.
As night fell upon the court, the 26-year-old worked through service in the fifth to hold serve. She caught a break, gaining three break points on Ostapenko. Tig lost a pair of points but managed to keep it together to level the score at three-all. The Latvian regained the lead, scoring the break back in the seventh as Tig erred at the wrong time. It pumped up the 23-year-old, who sat two games from the match with her serve needing to keep firm.
Tig tried to make a change on her speedy returns, but it was too little too late as she served to stay alive in the match. Ostapenko managed to force deuce, leading her into another fight on deuce where she earned three-match point attempts taking it on a long crosscourt error from Tig, ending things in 1 hour and 19 minutes.
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