But serving at 4-5, the Ukrainian threw in several cheap errors to let her opponent off the hook. Kostyuk still had moments of magic to wow the Court No.4 crowd, and seemed to have wrested the momentum back when she pulled off a remarkable dropshot-lob combination to break Sevastova back for 3-4 in the second set. Even more crucially, she won 19 out of 27 second-serve points in the remainder of the contest. Sevastova's first serve percentage was 64% in the second set, and 57% in the third. In the first set, she had landed 52% of her first serves, and won just one of the 11 points behind her second.īoth those numbers went up as the match went on. Specifically, Sevastova improved the efficacy of her serve. Kostyuk pulled off highlight after highlight in a stellar opening set: a dropshot return, a reflex half-volley winner, crazy sidespin that outfoxed even slice expert Sevastova.įormer US Open semifinalist Sevastova is known for her creative shotmaking, but she went back to basics to essay the comeback. Like Kasatkina, the 31-year-old had found herself shut out of a match by her opponent's aggressive tennis. She next faces Ajla Tomljanovic, who took out Alizé Cornet 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in a two-hour, seven-minute seesaw contest.Īnastasija Sevastova defeated Marta Kostyuk in three sets for the second time in just over a week.Įarlier, Sevastova had played the reverse role against Kostyuk. Ostapenko's seven-match winning streak puts her into the third round of Wimbledon in six appearances, and is one shy of the career-best eight in a row she set twice in 2017. Handed another lifeline, Ostapenko found another winner, this time on the forehand wing, and this time had enough momentum to surge across the finishing line. Kasatkina had another chance to serve out the win at 6-5, and led 30-0 - but at 30-30, the former World No.10 sent a forehand sitter wide. But serving for the match, Kasatkina coughed up a double fault of her own at 30-30 - and Ostapenko stayed alive with a bullet backhand down the line. The Ostapenko tightrope, stretched to its limit by Kasatkina's determined defence, seemed to have frayed too much when a double fault and two forehand errors put her down 5-4. It opened with six straight service breaks, of which there would ultimately be 11 across its 14 games, and was ultimately decided by a handful of points. "How about that?!" wowing the crowd en-route to the third round □ #Wimbledon /n5rYgAbk8Y Suddenly error-strewn, she dropped five games in a row to lose the second set and fall behind a break in the third. Even her Hawkeye challenges, long a source of strife for the 24-year-old, were correct.īut just when it seemed Ostapenko could do no wrong, her purple patch came to an end. It didn't seem as though it would be enough: Ostapenko, still walking on water, pulled off two clean return winners to break back, two forehand winners from defensive positions to hold for 2-2 and three consecutive return winners to move up 3-2. Ostapenko, by contrast, saved her boldest shots for the biggest points: a searing drive volley to go up 4-1, a vicious return winner for 5-1.īut a marvellous lob in the second game of set two en route to capturing Ostapenko's serve for the first time enabled Kasatkina to gain a foothold in the contest. The Russian committed 11 unforced errors, including four double faults, and rarely got her game going. World No.34 Ostapenko raced out of the blocks, dominating Kasatkina in a 22-minute opening set. But the numbers only tell the fraction of the rollercoaster match's story. Ostapenko, who famously hit 54 winners and 54 unforced errors to win the 2017 Roland Garros final over Simona Halep, emerged today with another perfect balance of 48 winners and 48 unforced errors.
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