PETE ZIEBRON in CINCINNATI
Aleksandra Krunic ran down EVERYTHING from Jelena Ostapenko in Cincinnati. Pete Ziebron Images
The impressive run for Aleaksandra Krunic continues at the Western & Southern Open as the Serb won 12 of the last 15 games of the match to defeat 2017 Roland Garros Champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 6-2 in 81 minutes on Court 8 in Cincinnati on Tuesday.
The victory for Krunic over a Roland Garros Champion was the second in as many matches, as she also defeated Francesca Schiavone, the 2010 Roland Garros Champion on Sunday.
Jelena Ostapenko, the #12 seed, opened the match with a love game, then came back from 40-15 down on Krunic's first service game of the match to win four consecutive points to break. Next, the French Open Champ held at 15 to march to a convincing 3-0 lead in the match.
What happened next may very well propel Aleksandra Krunic on to much bigger and better results in her career. From 0-3, 0-40 down, Aleksandra Krunic would stage one of the more improbable comebacks of her career. The Russian-born Serb opened the fourth game with a double fault and lost the next two points to go down 0-40. At this point, Krunic had won just 4 of the 20 points played in the match and was in serious danger of going down a double break.
Krunic climbed back into the game by winning the next two points, leveled at deuce with an ace and won the next point to hold an advantage before Ostapenko was able to get the game back to deuce by winning the following point. Krunic would then slam the door shut on the game with a pair of aces to get on the board in the match.
Ostapenko opened the next game with a double fault and managed to win just one point in the game as Krunic broke to get the set back on serve and proceeded to square the match a 3-3 in the next game despite reaching deuce twice. The French Open Champ won the next game to lead 4-3 however Krunic held easily at love to take it to 4-all.
Serving at 4-4, 30-30, Ostapenko double faulted and Krunic pounced on the next point to break and serve for the opening set. The following game reached deuce three times and Krunic saved two break points before eventually prevailing to win the first set 6-4.
Clearly not happy with the way she was playing, Jelena Ostapenko double faulted at 15-40 in the opening game of the second set. However, it was the game of Krunic that was causing the majority of issues for Ostapenko in this opening round match. The Serb simply got everything back in play and threw in the occasional drop shot to continue to keep Ostapenko off balance. At one point in the second set, Ostapenko ran out of her adidas shoe attempting to get to a dropper.
Following the break of serve, Krunic held to take a 2-0 lead. Ostapenko would save yet another break point against in the next game but held and Krunic followed with a hold at love to lead 3-1.
No matter what Ostapenko attempted in the match, Krunic had answers. Drop shot? The Serb ran it down and often times hit a passing shot winner. Baseline to baseline strategy? Krunic returned nearly everything, further adding to the Latvian major champion's growing frustrations on the day.
Despite holding a 40-30 lead as she served at 1-3, Ostapenko would lose the next three points to go down a double break. It was at this time that she called for the trainer to have something examined. It should be noted that at this particular point in the match, Ostapenko had lost 10 of the last 12 games played. The medical timeout delay impacted Krunic as she would get broken and perhaps the pause in the action would be what Ostapenko needed to calm herself on the court.
Aleksandra Krunic had other ideas and broke Ostapenko yet again to take a 5-2 lead and serve for the match. Although Krunic would fall behind 15-40, she would win the final four points of the match and successfully advance to the second round of the Western & Southern Open.
Next up in the second round for Aleksandra Krunic is Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. This match will be their first meeting and will be the second match of the day on Court 7.
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