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Jelena Ostapenko had a serious challenge and couldn’t contain the opposition at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday.
Marketa Vondrousova brought her best to the court going the distance with the 22nd seed to win in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Stadium Four at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. It clinched another round of 16 match for the teen who made it to this point a year ago.
Neither had met before making their third round match a key for the Latvian to increase her personal best in the desert.
Last year she made it to the third round but with the Czech standing in her way and a round of 16 finish for her the year before, it would be a fight right from the first point.
Both have yet to drop a set and Vondrousova had more time on court than the 22nd seed but with a strong win against Shuai Zhang it put a serious target on the back of the 19-year-old.
Ostapenko ran with the first three games holding Vondrousova to just two points through them. Getting the double was a tough task despite having opportunities with the Czech committing double faults early.
She forced deuce that lasted six breaks where she failed to contain the AD point three times before a fifth break point attempt went to the 21-year-old Latvian.
Just when it looked like she had everything under control, Vondrousova earned her revenge breaking back in the fifth with a shutout.
She found a groove to take the next on a serve to love before Ostapenko got back on the mark. She traded service holds to keep a two-game gap on Vondrousova before she found herself broken again.
She delivered it right back with the Czech losing control of the score. Two AD points slipped from her fingers before the Latvian took the opening set in 42 minutes.
The second set saw the two playing a more competitive amount of tennis giving it to one another where the server had to earn the game win.
A break for Vondrousova frustrated Ostapenko who called down coach Glenn Schaap who didn’t give her the exact advice to counter her opponent but tried to keep her focused.
She managed to break back and take the lead after five with Vondrousova calling for her coach who told her to hit the ball differently on the racket.
She leveled the score at three-all before trying to get the break in hand but was denied by the 21-year-old. They went to deuce that spanned just two breaks before Vondrousova clinched her fourth break of the match.
The momentum stayed with the Czech teen who held in the eighth before a break of Ostapenko gave her the 6-3 win to press the match to a decider after 35 minutes.
Vondrousova served nine of 11 with 61 percent success from the first that did a number on the Latvian who suffered greatly on returns.
With a serious improvement needed in the third, the Latvian had to dig in and change up the pace but the 19-year-old still had her grip on the offensive side.
She continued to challenge Ostapenko who fought to hold serve but a break in the third helped her get out front hoping it would affect the Czech.
It didn’t which led her to call down Schaap who told her to lose the negative frustrations and increase the intensity to gain her moment to dictate.
She broke back in the fourth but couldn’t build upon that as the players returned back to serve.
Ostapenko found her chance that scored her a break in the seventh gaining back the lead. A hold fell apart as she gave up points to Vondrousova who won it with a double break to keep the score level at four-all.
With the match coming close to its conclusion, Vondrousova pushed herself to gain the upper hand and pressure the Latvian who sat on the edge of defeat.
With the serve in the ninth, she got behind but recovered at 30-all with a line drive winner. An error gave the Czech match point which sealed the deal on a wide return from Ostapenko that ended two hours and two minutes of play.
It was clear that the challenge from Vondrousova was too much to remain a forceful opponent finding that returning the ball to her proved most difficult.
With another third-round loss in the books, her young opponent would try to surpass last year’s round of 16 finish going against second-seeded Simona Halep on Tuesday.
