BNP Paribas Open: Ostapenko stays consistent, easily sends Zhang out in second round
Jelena Ostapenko had all the right elements to be the winner at the BNP Paribas Open Friday. The Latvian fired away upping her game against Shuai Zhang who faltered in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 on Stadium Three at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The Latvian earned a victory over the 30-year-old back in Rome, but needed to see whether she'd prevail again on the hard court. Ostapenko hasn't had much luck on the surface this season, putting her aggressive tennis in trouble with its inability to be consistent on-court.
Zhang carried some leverage after her first-round win over Kuzmova on Tuesday getting her prepped for the challenge of playing against a former French Open champion.
Zhang starts quickly, Ostapenko takes control
She stayed in control during the first few games of the opening set, playing her end to pressure Ostapenko. The Latvian held her side of the court through the four, before a slip on serve from Zhang opened the door for the 21-year-old to take advantage of. She benefited from two free points which opened up a break point chance, slamming back a winning return to take the lead.
Despite some good winning points from Zhang, she failed to keep things going her way on deuce as Ostapenko aggressively pushed to force errors from her opponent, earning a 4-2 hold. The 30-year-old put too much on the forehand that got her behind in the seventh, giving Ostapenko break points. She let both slip away on bad returns but made one count on a sliced forehand for the AD point. A line-drive winner from the Latvian put Zhang away, giving the 21-year-old her shot at the set with a three-game comfort zone and the ball in her hands.
With three set points, errors allowed Zhang to hold deuce where she saved break points with help from the Latvian. Gaining the AD point was a difficult task as Ostapenko wanted to finish things off, doing so after three breaks of deuce to win after 40 minutes.
The 22nd seed came out on fire to start the second, attacking Zhang to go for the break. With the full press on the Chinese star, she broke to give the Latvian a comfortable start being a set up. Just when it looked as if Ostapenko found her rhythm, Zhang took the opportunities placed in her path and locked down the break back. It didn't help her case though when attempting to consolidate a hold in the third as she double-faulted to give her opponent another chance to hold serve in the set.
Zhang struggles, Ostapenko in ascendancy
She did precisely that, holding Zhang to take a 3-1 lead with a growing amount of momentum in her favour. A double-break was on the cards for Ostapenko, who took the fifth with a down-the-line winning return shot.
Very much in control of her fate, she locked down her fourth successive game closing in on the third-round with Zhang on the edge of defeat. She double-faulted for the eighth time, in what was quickly becoming a complete downfall of her tournament and despite saving two match points, a final struggled return landed long to take her out after one hour and nine minutes.
"The first match is not easy especially at the beginning of the season but I'm really glad with the way I finished today and the way I played," Ostapenko said after the match.
"Sometimes at the beginning, I was making more unforced errors but then going more down the line which helped me to win probably because the opponent was not expecting me to do that, especially from tough positions but I'm really glad I could do this and win the match today."
She'll look to recover quickly and channel her positive play into the third-round on Sunday, where she'll face Marketa Vondrousova - who took down 14th seed Daria Kasatkina.