No.4 seed Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia notched a come-from-behind victory at the National Bank Open in Toronto on Thursday, outlasting Spain’s Paula Badosa 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 in their second-round meeting.
Toronto: Scores | Draws | Order of Play
Ostapenko finished off the comeback after 2 hours and 4 minutes of play, snapping the six-match winning streak of resurgent Badosa, who won her fourth career title in Washington last week.
Badosa served for the match at 6-5 in the second set before Ostapenko turned proceedings around. Ostapenko, the 2017 Roland Garros champion, now holds a narrow 3-2 lead in her head-to-head against Badosa.
World No.11 Ostapenko collected her 29th match-win of the season on Thursday, as she continues her quest for the first WTA 1000 title of her career. Ostapenko is a two-time WTA 1000 runner-up, at 2016 Doha and 2018 Miami.
Match moments: Badosa had dominant serving stats in the first set, where she never faced a break point and won 15 of 16 points when she got her first serve into play.
Things were very different in the second set, where Ostapenko found incredible depth on returns and served for the set at 5-3. However, Badosa powered her way to three games in a row, and the Spaniard served for the match at 6-5.
But two double faults by Badosa in that game led to a love break, and a tiebreak. Ostapenko grabbed control early in the tiebreak, which she wrapped up with a forehand winner to keep the match alive.
Badosa took a medical timeout at 2-1 in the third set, and Ostapenko eased through the decider to garner the victory. Ostapenko held the final edge in winners by 28 to 24, although she also had 12 double faults to Badosa’s nine.
Next up: Ostapenko will face lucky loser Taylor Townsend in the Round of 16. Ostapenko won their only previous professional meeting, grinding out a three-set victory in the second round of the 2018 US Open.
More results from Thursday's second round:
- No.8 seed Emma Navarro and No.11 seed Marta Kostyuk lined up their first career meeting with second-round wins. Navarro eased past Magda Linette 6-2, 6-4, while Kostyuk beat her fellow Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Svitolina won this title in 2017.
More highlights: Anisimova def. Kasatkina | Krueger def. Fernandez
- Amanda Anisimova powered to a 6-4, 6-3 victory over No.5 seed Daria Kasatkina in exactly an hour and a half. Former Top 25 player Anisimova holds a perfect 4-0 record against World No.12 Kasatkina.
- Two Canadians made this week's second round, but they were both eliminated by Americans on Thursday. Townsend breezed past 19-year-old Marina Stakusic 6-0, 6-2, and qualifier Ashlyn Krueger stormed past No.15 seed Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2.
- Peyton Stearns advanced past No.7 seed Madison Keys, after Keys retired with a left thigh injury while trailing 3-0 in the third set.
- Katie Boulter also moved past an injured seed into the Round of 16, when No.13 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia retired from their match with a low back injury after only two games.
