Shelby Rogers ends grip from Jelena Ostapenko at BNP Paribas Open

Shelby Rogers lets out a yell during her second-round match with Jelena Ostapenko at the BNP Paribas Open. 

Four tries was a charm for Shelby Rogers at the BNP Paribas Open Saturday evening. The American, who went down to Jelena Ostapenko five months ago in Southern California got her revenge in a 7-5, 7-6(7) upset of the tenth seed at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.  

The two met for the fourth time and the second straight at Indian Wells. Ostapenko got into a heavy battle with the American, who gave it everything she had through three sets. Despite losing a third match to the Latvian, she made it apparent that her skills would be good enough for a win against the former French Open champ. The 24-year-old went on a hot streak last month, winning Dubai and going deep into Doha. Despite getting cut short on back-to-back titles in the middle east, coming into the California desert for another battle with Rogers was good enough. 

Ostapenko dealt with adversity from the 29-year-old but managed her service game. Rogers almost had a serve to love in hand but two points got away before sealing the serve. They remained on serve through the next pair of games with the competition increasing. After a seven-point fight in the third, the tenth seed took a 3-2 lead and went on to break Rogers with a late surge in the sixth. Rogers broke back in the seventh before consolidating it to level the score at four-all. 

The momentum had changed for the American, whose game came to a high point that broke Ostapenko for the double. With the chance to serve for the set, the American was denied the chance to get it done by Ostapenko, who worked the forehand that captured the breakpoint. Rogers broke back again that gave her back the lead. The 12^th game was where a critical error from Ostapenko occurred when she watched a good point land in front of her with no response. It handed Rogers set point which she accomplished on a winner that quieted the Latvian in 49 minutes. 

In the second set, Rogers took charge and won the next two games with a break in hand from the opening game. Ostapenko found a way to prevent the American from getting another double break in the third. She avoided a shutout in the fourth from Rogers, who let the competition surge to deuce and break back to even the score at two-all. Ostapenko gained the lead on a critical hold in the fifth but so did Rogers to keep them even at three. 

They put the service games aside and fought each other for breaks in the next two games. Ostapenko put no thought of losing so many service games to the American and continued to play her game that did clinch her the ninth. With a shot to bring up the third set, Rogers killed offset point to briefly play deuce and clinch the AD point. The Latvian was determined to add pressure to the court and jumped out to a 40-0 lead in the 11^th. She gave Rogers a point but soon put it away on a bad return into the net. 

Neither one worried about what problems they had in previous games, and for Rogers, she handled the pressure to force a tiebreak. Rogers scored the first minibreak on a wide slice by Ostapenko, who had a better record in tiebreaks this season. Another sliced return made it 2-0 for Rogers, who aced a shot down the T for a third straight point. Ostapenko got into the action with a forced error by her opponent and a bouncer off the net for two points. 

Rogers doubled her lead on the sixth point and gained another one for a 5-2 lead. The Latvian returned to serve with a second serve ace and an unforced error cutting it down to one. A double fault from Rogers made it five-all and another error set up Ostapenko for a second set point. Rogers was determined to turn it around and calmly got to the ball with a winner down the line. At six-all, Rogers went up 7-6 with a tremendous shot down the tramlines to reach match point. 

Ostapenko answered with a big forehand to knock it off, but the American got another at 8-7 where she put the tenth seed out on her feet. A crosscourt return away from the Latvian sealed the deal for Rogers in 1 hour and 56 minutes.