No.2 seed Jelena Ostapenko came through a tough opening round at the Rothesay Classic to best Linda Noskova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 in 1 hour and 40 minutes, setting up a marquee second-round encounter with wild card Venus Williams.

"I'm finally back on one of my favorite surfaces!" said Ostapenko in her on-court interview -- something that was evident for large stretches of the match.

A former Eastbourne champion and Wimbledon semifinalist, Ostapenko's grass-court experience shone as she raced through the opening set. She dropped just two points on serve, sealing three separate games with aces, and unleashed a series of blistering returns.

Noskova, by contrast, was playing on grass for the first time in her professional career. The 18-year-old Czech's history on the surface amounted to a single junior match, a first-round loss to Reese Brantmeier at the 2021 Roehampton Grade A event.

Despite a flat-footed first set, Noskova adjusted superbly to the conditions in the second set. Her own formidable serve began to make an impact, scoring her four aces, and ferocious returning enabled her to give Ostapenko a taste of her own medicine.

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A pair of brilliant backhands garnered Noskova the first break of the set for 5-3, and she held on despite an aggressive response from Ostapenko to break again to level the match.

However, it was the Latvian who seized control of the third set with consecutive return winners for an immediate break. Ostapenko did not let up, dropping just four points on serve in the decider as Noskova faded.

Head to Head

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"It was not an easy first round, she plays really well," Ostapenko said. "The second set was very close -- it didn't go my way and I couldn't make it 6-6, but I think in the third set I was mentally strong and played my game."

The next round is a match that Ostapenko is looking forward to as much as anyone else. She has yet to defeat Williams in two previous encounters, both in 2017 at Wimbledon and the WTA Finals Singapore. The latter of those, a 7-5, 6-7(3), 7-5 barnburner, was Williams' longest victory of the past 15 years at 3 hours and 13 minutes until she exceeded that by four minutes to defeat Camila Giorgi in Monday's first round.

"She's a great champion and it's amazing to share the court with her," she said of Williams. "I have nothing to lose, so I will just try to play my best."