19-year-old Jelena Ostapenko upsets No. 11-seed Caroline Wozniacki
19-year-old Jelena Ostapenko continued her run at the French Open on Tuesday, defeating No. 11-seed Caroline Wozniacki 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to advance to her first Grand Slam semifinal.
In a match that started at 2 p.m. local time, Wozniacki started out strong, building a 5-0 leading in the opening set. Ostapenko recovered and the Dane was able to take the first, but the momentum proved to stick with the young Latvian. After a three-hour rain delay with Ostapenko down a set and leading 5-2 in the second, she forced a decider before yet another rainstorm caused another stoppage. In the third set, unseeded Ostapenko overpowered Wozniacki to close out the match after one hour and 53 minutes.
With the win, Ostapenko becomes the youngest player to advance to the women's semifinals at Roland Garros since Ana Ivanovic in 2007. On Sunday, World No. 47 Ostapenko—who has never won a WTA tour level title—reached her first career Grand Slam quarterfinal with a three-set win over 2010 French Open finalist Stosur. Coming into Tuesday's match, Ostapenko led the head-to-head match-up against Wozniacki 3-0, including wins on clay in Charleston and Prague this season.
Ostapenko advances to the semifinals where she will face No. 30-seed Timea Bacsinszky, who defeated Kristina Mladenovic on Tuesday.
In a crazy coincidence, both Ostapenko and Bacsinszky will celebrate their birthdays—20th and 28th, repsectively—on Thursday, June 8, the same day as the women's semifinals.
"I’m really happy, I still can’t believe it," Ostapenko said after the match. "It was tough because we had to go away two times from the court. Caroline is a tough opponent. She was playing great. I had to stay aggressive. I was missing sometimes but in the end it worked out. It will be really great to play here when it will be my birthday. I hope I can enjoy it."
