Ons Jabeur forces Ostapenko to break under pressure at Porsche Tennis GP

Ons Jabeur holds up her fist during her round of 16 match against Jelena Ostapenko at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. 

When all looked lost, Ons Jabeur found a way to come back and win it at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Wednesday night. Jelena Ostapenko put on a string of tense moments that nearly cracked the offense of the third seed, but she pulled it together to win 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 on center court at the Porsche Arena. It was another bad beat for the Latvian, who failed to win back-to-back matches once more.

The Latvian proved her strengths were in check after swiftly taking care of Emma Raducanu in her opening-round match. The 25-year-old dominated in straight sets, allowing the British star three games. Facing Jabeur for a fourth time was no problem for the world number 22, who defeated the Tunisian on two of three occasions. It marked their first time meeting on clay, which Jabeur had success after winning on the green clay in Charleston two weeks ago. Getting on the ball was crucial for her as Ostapenko had a tendency for getting wildly speedy with the pace.

Despite losing her opening service against the 28-year-old, Ostapenko brushed it off and fought in the second, getting the break from Jabeur. It was not a smooth second service game for the Latvian, who double-faulted in the third but held serve to back the score. The third seed suffered some issues in the fourth, leading Ostapenko to break her to love. She consolidated in the fifth before the Tunisian put up a defense to prevent a runaway.

Jabeur had a shot at closing out the service at 40-30, but the Latvian charged back to force deuce. They went five breaks where Ostapenko brought up a breakpoint, eventually getting the triple break accomplished. After putting in a lot of effort, Jabeur made the 25-year-old earn it, losing two set points and then went to deuce, where a second attempt gave her the first in 31 minutes. While it was nearly close to how quickly she finished her opening set against Raducanu, the Latvian faced heavier competition in this situation.

When they went into the second, the pace remained with Ostapenko, who jumped out to a 3-1 lead, with a break in hand. Jabeur managed to close up the margin and stay in touch with the Latvian. The third seed stopped Ostapenko from closing out the set on two occasions, denying her any set points. Getting the score to five-all opened the door for her to fight for a chance to go the distance. A serve to love was a huge boost to go for the big statement and stop a tiebreak from happening.

Ostapenko stopped three set points for the Tunisian, but couldn’t covert one for her benefit. After four breaks, it was Jabeur coming out with the set win that took 52 minutes to succeed. Jabeur tallied five aces and got the first serve in the right gear, winning 16 of 25 and 10 of 21 from the return end.

The final set watched both of them hold serve through five games, with Jabeur picking up her second love service of the match. She led the way for Ostapenko, who didn’t want to be level but had the energy to keep up the fight. When the Latvian served in the sixth, she allowed Jabeur to get the momentum and cause a break chance. After a break, the third seed scored a two-game lead to go for a chance to make it a larger gap.

Jabeur pressed the Latvian to stop a break back point for the world number 22 and get to deuce. She set up an ace and laid down her breakpoint to clinch the hold of serve, and lead by three games, winning the last 9 of 11. Ostapenko was under pressure in the eighth, but despite having much of the crowd against her, she pulled through to save two match points and clinch the service. Though she had two games left to win, Jabeur put herself in a good place to win the match. On her third attempt and first, of the ninth, Ostapenko denied her that shot and slipped up on her footing for a fourth.

Ostapenko didn’t give up and brought up an AD point, but a miscue blew her chance to stay alive. Once Jabeur got the chance for her fifth attempt, she made it count with an ace square on the T to win the night in two hours and three minutes.