US Open: Ostapenko stuns world No 1 Swiatek to reach quarter-finals
The former French Open champion will play American Coco Gauff, the No 6 seed, for a place in the semi-finals
Ostapenko Swiatek US Open 2023 (John Minchillo/AP/SIPA)
Jelena Ostapenko, the No 20 seed and former French Open champion, continued her mastery over Poland’s Iga Swiatek, the world’s top-ranked player, with a three-set win at the US Open on Sunday night.
The big-hitting Latvian came into the match riding a wave of confidence, having beaten the four-time Grand Slam winner in all of their three previous matches, dropping only one set in those three victories.
Playing under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Swiatek was the one who started out better, winning the first set 6-3. From there, Ostapenko found the range and depth on her groundstrokes to win the next two sets 6-3, 6-1 and complete the win in one hour and 48 minutes.
“I knew there will be moments when I have chances, and I waited for them” – Ostapenko
“I knew she’s a great player and she’s very, very consistent, especially last few years. I also knew she would have all the pressure because she’s obviously No 1. I think if she lost against me today she loses the No. 1 spot. I was just trying to make it hard for her and to play my game and to fight until the very last point,” Ostapenko said reflecting on her win in the post-match press conference.
“I knew there will be moments when I have chances, and I waited for them. Second set 4-1, 4-3, a little bit tricky. I was still playing and I was fighting. Yeah, I think I dominated in the end of the match.”
The win sets up a quarter-final between Ostapenko and American favourite and sixth seed Coco Gauff. The pair have played each other twice and are tied at 1-1, with Gauff winning the 2019 Linz final contest while Ostapenko won their fourth-round clash at the Australian Open in January this year.
“It’s going to be a very tough match. She’s a great young player. I played her in Australia. It was a great match,” the Latvian added. “I will try to focus on myself and enjoy it. It’s great to be in quarter-finals, especially here in New York.”
The loss for Swiatek will also see her lose the world No 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka next week.
Ostapenko has won all her four matches this week in three sets – being stretched by Italian Jasmine Paolini (6-2, 4-6, 6-1), Russian Elina Avanesyan (6-3, 5-7, 7-5) and American Bernarda Pera (4-6, 6-3, 6-3).
In the earlier rounds at Flushing Meadow, Swiatek had defeated Swede Rebecca Peterson (6-0, 6-1), Australian Daria Saville (6-3, 6-4) and Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan (6-0, 6-1).
New York (Grand Slam), other round of 16 matches (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44,700,000, most recent results first):
- Coco Gauff beat Caroline Wozniacki (WC): 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
- Sorana Cirstea (30) beat Belinda Bencic (15): 6-3, 6-3
- Karolina Muchova (10) beat Xinyu Wang: 6-3, 5-7, 6-1
- Daria Kasatkina vs. Aryna Sabalenka
- Ons Jabeur vs. Qinwen Zheng
- Madison Keys vs. Jessica Pegula
- Peyton Stearns vs. Marketa Vondrousova
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