Jelena Ostapenko drops Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets

Jelena Ostapenko clenches her fist during her opening round with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Viking International. 

Jelena Ostapenko notched a beautiful victory to start her run at the Viking International on Tuesday. The unseeded power hitter did work to dominate against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening round winning 6-1, 6-3 on Court Two at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne. 

The two met for the sixth time and the first meeting in two years. The recent French Open finalist took some well-deserved time off the courts to get a break. She’d be at a disadvantage against the 24-year-old, who already put in two matches back at Birmingham. With their first-ever meeting taking place on grass, the Russian hoped her competition with Ostapenko came back to her and assist with the transition. 

The Latvian was the first to break ahead and fast against the Pavlyuchenkova, who went down a break and suffered the double after four games. Ostapenko cruised to another win in the fifth against the eighth seed, who struggled to find depth of any kind in the set. The Russian served to stay alive in the sixth, keeping ahead of the Latvian on serve. Getting a break was out of the question, as Ostapenko held her end well in the seventh to close out the first in 24 minutes. Despite having four double faults, the Latvian produced big winners that broke the Russian and kept her from digging into the competition. 

She rolled into the second set, breaking Pavlyuchenkova, and backed it up with a hold in the second. After eight games played, the 29-year-old found a way to get into her serve and blast out a win against the Latvian. She went on to catch a break from Ostapenko that tied the game and gave the indication that she was in the right offensive gear. The 24-year-old regained the lead with a break in the fifth, and a hold to take a 4-2 lead. 

Pavlyuchenkova served well to stay within a game of the Latvian, who landed her fifth double fault in the eighth but held to finish Pavlyuchenkova off with a crosscourt winner near the net. She played for the match against the Russian, who tried to stay in the match on serve but committed too many errors that handed Ostapenko match point. The Latvian finished her day with an easy crosscourt hit into Pavlyuchenkova’s end completing the victory in 59 minutes.