Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (17) completed a morning of surprises at Melbourne Park after beating the young American Coco Gauff (7) by 7-5 and 6-3 in the round of 16 of the Australian Open.
The first unexpected result this Sunday morning came at the hands of the Kazakh Elena Rybakina (22) who beat the Polish Iga Swiatek and will face Ostapenko in the quarterfinals.
“I gave the maximum in every point, he has a bright future. I try to be positive all the time even if I miss some balls.”, Ostapenko commented after ending a match that lasted more than an hour and a half, which was the big surprise of Roland Garros 2017 who proclaimed the champion, with the now Spanish Billie Jean King Trainer Cup captain, Anabel Medina.
The young Gauff managed just 50% of first serves and was punished by Ostapenko’s aggressiveness as she hit 30 winners and won 80% of first serve points.
“He is very good at serving. I have to be aggressive and put pressure on him. We’ll see what happens”, he said about his next opponent, Elena Rybakina, whom he lost in two previous matches.
Ostapenko has prevailed in two previous clashes between the Kazakh and Latvian.
Coco Gauff, 18 years old, cried explaining the reasons for her defeat in her media appearance. “It was not my day and it was his, I couldn’t find a solution,” he said, evident frustration.
Source: La Verdad
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