Jelena Ostapenko rallies to win first round of the French Open

Jelena Ostapenko swings the backhand during her opening round match with Lucia Bronzetti at the French Open.

Jelena Ostapenko put on a tennis seminar early before testing her strengths to victory at the French Open Tuesday. The former singles champion handled Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti on Court 14 dealing out a 6-1, 6-4 win on the grounds of Roland Garros. 

The two faced each other in a pivotal opening round with the rookie going up against the 2017 champion. This time around, Ostapenko didn’t get a deep run into any of the earlier clay-court tournaments. She made first-round exits at both Madrid and Rome, leading her back to familiar territory. While she hoped that her new opponent would be an easy pass-through, the action would be tense for both as performance stood out for both but much more on the Latvian. 

Ostapenko opened the match, forcing an error from Bronzetti before laying out three winners to sweep the first game. The 23-year-old drew unforced errors against her opponent and fought off two winners to force one last error for the win. It was the only victory she would get as the 13^th seed held serve despite two double faults committed. She went on to break Bronzetti in the fourth, holding her to a point. 

Ostapenko notched her third double fault of the set, but once again held Bronzetti back to lead 5-1. With one chance to stay alive in the set, the Italian came back from 15-40, forced deuce, and fell out on a forced error to end the set in 25 minutes for the Latvian. Despite recording four double faults, Ostapenko’s 16 winners took a toll on Bronzetti’s return game where she got back 6 of 23. 

The 23-year-old wanted the second set to be more competitive and proved it in the opening game. Gaining a 40-15 run on the Latvian, her opponent drew an error from Bronzetti and notched a winner to force deuce. Bronzetti scored an ace but the response from Ostapenko was strong. She waited till the second AD point to break Bronzetti and back it up on serve in the second. 

Three winners in the third allowed the 13^th seed to achieve the double break, but the early momentum was over in the eyes of Bronzetti. The 23-year-old attacked after her opponent double-faulted, smacked a winner, and drew errors for a breakpoint. Bronzetti had the break on an error from Ostapenko that got her on the board. She backed up the break with strong offensive output, recording two winners that cut Ostapenko’s lead to one. 

The sixth became an important game for each of them as they opened scoring with three winners in a row. Ostapenko had game point but an error from her end and a winner from Bronzetti’s forced deuce. The two went four breaks until a key ace from the Latvian returned a two-game buffer zone. 

The Italian held in the seventh, but the 13^th seed knew victory was close at hand. She notched two aces in the eighth and smashed a winner for the 5-3 score, hoping to break in the ninth. Bronzetti was having none of it and scored her first serve to love on Ostapenko which left her with a chance to level once again. The Latvian didn’t want any of that and drew Bronzetti into an early rally before smacking down a winner. She reached two match points before recording her sixth double fault on the day. She overcame the issue and won on her 38^th winner to finish the match in one hour and seven minutes.