Over the course of her career on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, Jelena Ostapenko has turned the scoreboard rollercoaster into an art form. The Latvian was at it again in the Miami Open third round, triumphing 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 over No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini after 2 hours and 33 minutes of wildly fluctuating momentum shifts.

Miami: Scores | Draws | Order of play

The result also extended Ostapenko’s superb recent record against Top 10 opposition. Last year, she was victorious in 80% of her matches against players ranked inside the Top 10 — the best winning percentage on tour — with her only such loss coming against Paolini in Rome. Ostapenko now leads her head-to-head against Paolini 3-2, and she has won six of her past eight showdowns with Top 10 opponents.

This one was the most hard-fought of those contests. After a string of net cords went Paolini’s way in the first few games, Ostapenko’s radar deserted her as she fell behind 5-2. She pegged Paolini back to 5-5, reeling off a series of return winners — including down set point — only for her hot streak to end before the comeback had been completed.

Down a second set point, Ostapenko was unable to hit through Paolini’s valiant defense, and when the Italian threaded a pass past her the Butch Buchholz court erupted in roars of appreciation. Ostapenko was less amused, sticking her fingers in her ears and spending the ensuing changeover with a towel covering her head.

Tuning out the noise worked. On resumption, Ostapenko rattled off 10 of the next 12 games with clean, composed ball-striking to lead 4-0 in the decider. Having attempted to block out the crowd after the first set, Ostapenko’s reaction to winning the second with an unreturnable serve couldn’t have been more different as she exhorted them to cheer even louder.

Closing the match out was never going to be simple. Paolini came up with several superb redirects of Ostapenko’s pace and steadily chipped away at her lead. 4-0 turned into 4-3, and though Ostapenko held for 5-3, she was unable to serve out the win at the first time of asking.

But as Paolini held a point to lead 6-5, Ostapenko found another flurry of line-skimming winners to break once again. Despite a nervy double fault on her second match point, she slammed down a 12th ace to convert her third — and this time, was all smiles as she blew kisses to all corners of the crowd.

Ostapenko, the 2018 Miami finalist, advanced to the fourth round here for the third time. Next up will be her Indian Wells doubles partner, Hailey Baptiste. The 24-year-old American pulled off a notable upset on home soil, defeating No. 9 seed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-5 to claim her second career Top 10 win. Baptiste tallied 28 winners and won nine of 15 points at net — two stats encapsulated by her bold serve-and-volley play to convert her second match point.

Pegula needs just 66 minutes to ease past Fernandez

If Ostapenko’s oscillating scoreboard was very much in character, so too was No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula’s efficient, fuss-free 6-2, 6-2 dismissal of No. 26 seed Leylah Fernandez.

Ahead of the match, Pegula had anticipated an “intense” battle against the Canadian — their last two matches, including a loss in last year’s Washington second round, had both gone the distance. Her fears did not come to pass. She struck 22 winners to just 12 unforced errors, and was rarely in danger during the 66-minute contest.

Pegula faced just two break points in total, both as she led 3-2 with a break in the second set. She saved each with an ace — two out of her total of seven — and wrapped proceedings up briskly in the next two games.

The 32-year-old advanced to the fourth round of Miami for a sixth straight year where she will next face Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian. The No. 34 seed came from 4-2 down in the third set to upset No. 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5) and book her place in the last 16 of a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time. The result was Cristian’s sixth career Top 20 win — two of which have come against Alexandrova this year, following her first-round victory in Adelaide.

 

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