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Johanna Konta had a tough day on the court but managed to get the victory at the Rogers Cup in Montreal Tuesday. The Brit who struggled all the way had just a little bit better than Jelena Ostapenko who she defeated 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-1 on Centre Court at IGA Stadium. The world number 11 had ten double faults that were too much to overcome in what was another early exit from the competition.
The two haven’t met since Rome where the Latvian put up a win for herself against the Brit for the first time in three meetings. Since her semifinal loss at Wimbledon to eventual champion Angelique Kerber, Ostapenko had yet to record a single match on hard courts. She came into the second half of the season way behind her opponent who got time out in San Jose losing to Elise Mertens in the quarterfinals. Despite the straight sets loss to the Belgian, the 27-year-old would try to keep the series lead by adding another victory to start the tournament.
She opened with breaking Ostapenko who wasn’t up to speed after the 10-minute warm-up they received. The Brit made it 2-0 with a solid service hold before the Latvian double faulted a third time that gave Konta a sizable lead. The need for anything by the Latvian arrived in the fourth with her getting a grip on her offense gaining three break points with the second clinching her first victory. A second straight made her feel better on court holding serve on deuce where she nailed her first ace of the set.
A third straight got her back to level pegging with Konta delivering some good crosscourt shots that gave her the break in the sixth. With her game in the right gear, she hunted down a fourth in a row in the seventh but double faulted a fifth time giving the 27-year-old a break. She broke back that made it four all leading them to the point where winning the next games were critical. They went back to holding serves on one another pushing them to go further into the set. Despite having the double faults continuing to jumble into her game, the 21-year-old managed to hold in the 12th forcing the tiebreak.
Ostapenko gave herself a two-point lead after six points were played with a seventh double fault recorded due to a problem with her ball toss. Konta got back just in time to deny the Latvian set point but couldn’t stop her second try ending things in 55 minutes. The 11th seed had eight double faults by the end of the set serving at 45 percent with 24 unforced errors. The Brit also had a game that was all over the place serving 46 percent with 19 errors and a pair of double faults.
Both knew that the path forward had to see better games from one another but didn’t go that way. Konta started the second set the way she began the match taking an early break after two games. With a second straight hold, the Brit was going for a stronger run than she had before denying Ostapenko very little to put together a comeback like she had. The Latvian got on the board in the fourth but watched Konta contain her service to stay three games out of reach. Coach Glenn Schapp came out during the changeover being blunt with Ostapenko that she was going to have to fight it out on her terms to get back to where she was in the first set.
The 27-year-old wouldn’t let her get there putting pressure on the 11th seed to falter on handing her a fifth win to go for the set. The Brit dictated early on but had to battle on deuce to get the job done. After a shot that landed on the inside line, Ostapenko challenged it to see that the call was good sending her and Konta to a decider. While none of them had a single double fault in the set the difference came on winners and unforced errors which leaned heavily in Ostapenko's end.
She had good numbers and bad numbers that resulted in her losing the opportunity to win in straight sets. During the break, the 21-year-old called her coach out telling her she was done. Schapp ran out of positive things to tell his athlete as her opponent didn’t do anything differently while she was struggling mentally.
They started with holds of serves through the first pair of games before Konta recorded the first break of the set. Ostapenko broke back in the fourth but trailed on Konta's break to love in the very next game. The Brit gave herself a 4-2 lead after holding on deuce with Ostapenko getting into trouble. She lost control of serve in the seventh handing Konta a shot at ending the match on her terms. The forehand did work to give her three match points smashing an ace to the corner taking down the 11th seed in two hours and three minutes.
"We didn’t get the chance to warm up the way we wanted to this morning so it was a lot of back and forth control. For me, it was about just settling in the match and playing the best tennis that I can and happy to be able to keep improving my level and get calmer and calmer as the match went on." She'll hope that the conditions on the court will give her the chance to focus on her second round match playing the winner between Victoria Azarenka and Kristina Mladenovic.
