Jelena Ostapenko battled back from the brink of defeat three times to stage an upset win over Jessica Pegula in the second round of the Wuhan Open.
The former French Open champion was under pressure throughout the first half of the match before producing a shock 2-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 victory over the second seed. Ostapenko lost the opener in just over 30 minutes and then had to come back from a break down twice in the second set. Then, in the tiebreak, she saved three match points to force a decider, where she turned things round in her favour. Breaking Pegula’s serve three times en route to victory.
It is the first time since March that Ostapenko has beaten a top-10 player. She last beat a top-10 player at the Miami Open, where she defeated Jasmine Paolini. She is also the first player to beat Pegula whilst ranked outside the top 30 since the French Open, when the American lost to Kimberly Birrell.
“Jess is a great player,” Ostapenko said during her on-court interview.
“It’s always tough matches against her, and I honestly don’t know how I managed to win the second set.”
The 29-year-old played the match with heavy taping around her right arm. Overall, she hit 46 winners against 37 unforced errors and converted five of seven break point opportunities.
“I had a lot of pain in my arm, then I took a painkiller, and I was fighting for every single point,” she said.
“I told myself, like, I’ll fight, and we’ll see what happens, I’m so happy to be through.”
Ostapenko’s victory marks the first time she has won back-to-back singles matches at the same tournament since Wimbledon.
In the other half of the draw, Iga Swiatek breezed through her opening match with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Magdalena Frech to earn her 40th victory of the season. Swiatek has won 19 out of 21 matches against players ranked outside the top 50 this year.
“I’m happy to get the first match on the center court because I didn’t get a chance to play there before,” said Swiatek. “At the beginning of the match, it was point by point, but then I was happy that I started making less mistakes and I used my chances till the end of the match. For sure it was tougher than the score.”
Swiatek has won 149 matches at WTA 1000 events, which moves her above Serena Williams and into seventh on the all-time list. She is making her second appearance in Wuhan this year.
