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Jelena Ostapenko was able to keep the match and her opponent in check at the Korea Open 2018 on Wednesday. The defending champion made good in her first round match against Lara Arruabarrena to win 6-3, 6-3 on Center Court at the Olympic Park Tennis Stadium.
The Spaniard put up a challenge against the Latvian at last year’s US Open, making her first round one to fight for in what ended in a lopsided score. With things not going her way during the second half of the hardcourt season, Ostapenko hoped that being done with the Majors would give her time to regroup and play her game with strength and poise.
She hasn’t been in action in nearly three weeks and with Arruabarrena back in form, the 21-year-old wanted nothing close to a repeat of their previous meeting.
Ostapenko won the right to serve and laid down a strong game, giving Arruabarrena a single point before taking it. The Spaniard fought back to level the score but watched the young Latvian take control in the third with a serve to love.
She consolidated it with a break of Arruabarrena in the fourth before being completely broken in the fifth. Ostapenko looked to get back on serve fast but saw that it would take a lot of effort to do so. She fought her way to deuce before achieving break point chances that made it 4-2 for her.
She held firm in the seventh against Arruabarrena, followed by another from the 26-year-old. It was up to the world number 10 to get it done herself but even that was a challenge. She had to reach deuce with Arruabarrena before a second attempt at the set came on a smash with that signature aggression ending 35 minutes of play.
She had 15 winners with the serve, scoring 64 percent but the four double faults made was a problem needing remedy before the second set.
She got into trouble quick at the start of the second that saw Arruabarrena break Ostapenko cleanly. It was soon a 2-0 lead for the Spaniard, who had gained such a quick hold that sent gasps through the crowd.
She got on the scoreboard just in the nick of time where it took a push and a little defense on deuce to break Arruabarrena and end her short winning streak. She leveled the score, holding in the fourth before consolidating it with a break having many opportunities to get it done.
With the lead back in her hands, Ostapenko tried to keep her game together but had to fight to deuce with the 26-year-old. She gained the AD point on the second break that did the trick to inch out to a 4-2 stance. Arruabarrena kept herself in reach of Ostapenko with a hold in the seventh but knew that facing the winners of her opponent would be a big task to continue battling.
She got to deuce with the Latvian on serve in the eighth where, after two breaks, the world number 10 got the victory on a forced error from Arruabarrena, setting up a chance to finish it. Ostapenko played on the break, reaching two match point chances where the second one came on a solid return that hit the line completing the win in 1 hour and 13 minutes.
With a much better result than their first, Ostapenko made the winners a big part of her play, finishing a straight-sets win, where she made more than 30 against the Spaniard to avoid a third set. With the jitters of defending a title over and done with, she could focus on her next match against Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday.
