Krejcikova surpasses Ostapenko in straight sets at Wimbledon

Barbora Krejcikova celebrates her quarterfinal victory against Jelena Ostapenko to advance at the Championships Wimbledon. 

Jelena Ostapenko’s serve slipped up to give her opponent a maiden semifinal at the Championships Wimbledon on Wednesday. Barbora Krejcikova took advantage of many windows the Latvian opened to win in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(4) on No. 1 court at the All England Tennis Club. 

The Latvian came into her sixth grand slam quarterfinal in a dominant performance at the AETC. Her four wins came with less than five games lost in each and 15 in total overall. It was the fewest committed since Victoria Azarenka’s 14 in 2012. She smashed Yulia Putintseva in straight sets, scoring 29 winners to make her third appearance at this level. While she hadn’t won in nine of her last ten matches at this point, her 29-9 record on grass gave her a chance to remain firm. 

The Czech finally notched her way into Wimbledon’s last eight, falling short three years straight. She served 80 percent against an injured Danielle Collins to clinch her spot. The series leaned heavily in Ostapenko’s favor having five of their seven meetings. The eighth was an important one to make a change or maintain dominance for the Latvian on grass. 

The 27-year-old opened the match, blanking Krejcikova in a blink of an eye. The 31st seed battled the aggressive returns of the Latvian to hold serve in the second. Adding effort to her game, the 28-year-old clinched an early break in the third, holding comfortably to consolidate the fourth. The two played a string of service holds, but the break up for Krejcikova left her two games ahead after eight. 

She gave away a chance to threaten a break opportunity, hitting balls long of the baseline to bring the Latvian within reach. The Czech denied her in the tenth, playing tough for the double break and closing the set in 32 minutes. Krejcikova bested the Latvian on the first serve, producing 78 percent and winning 20 of 21 points from it. 

Ostapenko wanted to set a different pace to begin the second, fighting through two breaks of deuce before holding. The Czech upped the ante, shutting out Ostapenko, but the Latvian had other plans going forward. She took a 3-1 lead, scoring a break against Krejcikova to consolidate a service hold. Krejcikova cut the margin in half in the sixth, then converted a break in the seventh, sitting a game down. 

Krejcikova tied it up on serve to complete a three-game rally back, while Ostapenko struggled to get into the competition. She faced break points for Krejcikova in the ninth, leading the Czech to take the lead and go for the match on serve. It was a tense moment for the Latvian, who somehow got out front briefly before they went to deuce. 

Ostapenko didn’t waste time and took the lone AD point to send them deeper into the second set. Ostapenko notched another win over the Czech in the 11th and tried to put the pressure on the 31st seed. It didn’t work, as the Czech got into position, leveled the score in the twelfth, and put on a display in the tiebreak. Krejcikova got away from a two-all scoring and jumped 5-2 before the Latvian scored her next point. 

The 31st seed reached match point at 6-3, gave one away but held her next attempt to clinch her spot in the last four after 1 hour and 42 minutes.