"You tell me Iga Swiatek never win against this girl? Howwww??" - Fans amused by Jelena Ostapenko's error-ridden victory at the Italian Open
Fans reacted to the victory of Jelena Ostapenko over Sarra Sorribes Tormo in the Round of 32 at the ongoing Italian Open. The main point of discussion was the amount of unforced errors made by Ostapenko.
Unforced errors are usually a sign that a player is not at their best as they are making mistakes on the court on their own without any role of their opponent. Ostapenko made an astounding 69 unforced errors to Sorribes Tormo's 10. However, the momentum of the match shifted towards the Latvian as she neutralized the impact of her unforced errors by hitting 72 winners while Sorribes Tormo managed to hit only 6 winners.
Tennis Letter shared the match statistics on X (formerly Twitter):
"Jelena Ostapenko’s stats today: 72 winners. 69 unforced errors. Sara Sorribes Tormo’s stats: 6 winners. 10 unforced errors. This matchup is iconic."
One fan jokingly pointed out that the match was chaotic and was equal to cinematic content.
"I expected only chaos but even I did not expect this level of cinema! Oh what a match," said one fan.
Another fan expressed surprise at how the world No. 1 Iga Swiatek has not been able to beat Ostapenko yet on the tour. Ostapneko leads the head-to-head with Swiatek 4-0, with her last victory coming at the 2023 US Open.
"And do you tell me that Iga never win against this girl? Howwww??" asked a fan.
Some other online responses involved people expressing amusement over the number of winners hit by Ostapenko.
"72 winners is SST’s winner count year to date" stated one fan.
"Never seen such splits before. That's quite amazing," expressed one fan.
Fans also commended the spirit shown by Sorribes Tormo in the match.
"What a fight! Sorribes Tormo is good on clay," claimed one fan.
Swiatek and Ostapenko have had contrasting clay court seasons in the build-up to the French Open
Both Swiatek and Ostapenko are French Open champions. The Latvian won the title in 2017 when she was a teenager, whereas Swiatek has already won the title at the Roland Garros three times and is the two-time defending champion.
In this year's buildup to the event, Ostapenko has had a lukewarm clay-court season. In the two tournaments Ostapenko has played, she had disappointing losses. She lost to Linda Noskova at the Stuttgart Open despite being the higher-seeded player while Ons Jabeur bageled the Latvian at the Madrid Open.
On the other hand, Swiatek has had a better run in the clay-court season. She reached the semifinals of the Stuttgart Open and triumphed at the Madrid Open. In the Madrid Open final, she beat her closest rival and World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in three sets.