US Open 2019: Ahn secures first round of 16 appearance defeating Ostapenko

By Rudy Martinez
Modified Sep 02, 2019 10:13 GMT
2019 US Open - Day 6
2019 US Open - Day 6

Kristie Ahn was on a mission to make her best run at the US Open count on Saturday. Despite suffering a leg injury during her third-round match against Jelena Ostapenko, the 27-year-old held to defeat the Latvian 6-3, 7-5 on Grandstand Court at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center. Maintaining the unforced errors helped the rest of her game stay tight and extend her journey into the round of 16.

The two met back in Bogota where the American overcame a first set loss going to the brink in the next two with back to back tiebreak wins. In their journey through the tournament, both have had numerous unforced errors but also recorded winners that helped them get through their matches in straight sets.

Knowing that the unforced errors had to be lowered to be stronger competitors, Ostapenko and Ahn needed control and stability to stand out as the winner over the other.

Ahn struggled to get a good start and forced deuce to keep her service hopes alive. After three breaks and two AD point chances, the American locked down the game. Ostapenko had a better outcome in the second that saw her notch a couple of winners. Ahn got herself dug in during the third giving Ostapenko a single point. The Latvian threw in a serve to love in response but continued to trail the 27-year-old.

Ostapenko found herself a break down after the sixth but managed to keep the American in reach with a break back in the seventh. Ahn clinched the double break that sent the 22-year-old into a world of frustration that would cause a ruckus on the court. After a linesperson called her for a code violation for verbal abuse, the Latvian went to the umpire arguing that she did not say anything foul. For almost two minutes she got into a comparison between her language and Russian with the umpire with no positive solution coming out of it.

When the ninth got underway, she soon watched Ahn cap the set with a strong service with two set points to end the first in 44 minutes. A stronger service allowed her to limit the unforced errors and remain focused. The same notion went to the Latvian who put the issues on court aside and invested better into the second.

The improvement did not come on serve as she was blanked by the American and fell two games back with a hold. The 22-year-old brought out a shutout of her own and broke Ahn giving her just one point in the last nine points played. She also had an issue during the previous game where she hyper extended her left leg before going deep into the fifth.

Before she could have the trainer come out on the court, the players got into a drawn-out service for the Latvian where Ahn forced deuce setting up a tug of war for the AD point. Eight breaks were played before the Latvian found her fifth attempt at a game point came to fruition. After receiving the medial timeout, the 27-year-old resumed play to hold the sixth but trailed Ostapenko who had evidently improved her offense.

Despite a seventh double fault, the 22-year-old kept the edge on Ahn who served to extend the set doing so holding Ostapenko to a pair of points. The 22-year-old had to rely on the second serve as her toss became an issue keeping Ahn’s hopes for straight sets alive. A breakpoint on the second break saw the American get the win on the Latvian’s eighth double fault. On serve for the match, Ahn drew errors from Ostapenko and sealed the victory with a perfect ace down the T to end her match in 1 hour and 47 minutes.

As her best performance in any grand slam continued, the hopeful American would face off against Belgian power player Elise Mertens on Monday.

Result: Kristie Ahn beats Jeļena Ostapenko 6-3,7-5