Jelena Ostapenko upsets defending champion Iga Swiatek, reaches QFs

NEW YORK: World No.20 Jelena Ostapenko continued her winning campaign over Iga Swiatek, ending the Pole's US Open crown defence with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 triumph in the fourth round. The 26-year-old Latvian is now 4-0 in her career against Swiatek and is the only player to have faced the World No.1 player multiple times at tour level without taking a loss.

The victory means World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka will overtake Swiatek and climb to the No.1 ranking after the US Open. Swiatek will have held the top spot for 75 consecutive weeks.

Ostapenko will face No.6 Coco Gauff in the US Open quarterfinals. Before beginning their much-awaited baseline tug-of-war, the contest started with an exchange of breaks. Ostapenko was serving at 3-2, 30-all when Swiatek out-gunned her from the baseline, drawing cheers from the spectators and giving her a chance at a breakpoint. Swiatek capitalised on a second opportunity, blasting a flat cross-court passing shot for a 4-2 lead after Ostapenko snuffed it out.

Ostapenko raked her winners for a 15-30 advantage as Swiatek served to end the set at 5-3. Swiatek had a set point after a botched return and coincidental net cord victory. To end the 39-minute opening, she succeeded on another missed return (Ostapenko connected at just 57 per cent). After saving two game points, Ostapenko immediately came back and broke Swiatek in her opening service game for an early 3-0 lead. Ostapenko's first drop shot attempt of the match was blocked into the net, allowing Swiatek to score. However, Ostapenko had already quadrupled Swiatek's win total thanks to her comfortable service game rhythm.

Ostapenko had hit 10 winners in the set to Swiatek's one when she sat for a 4-1 advantage. The fact that she made fewer mistakes than Swiatek—just five—was more significant.

"She's a great player and she's very, very consistent, especially last few years. I also knew she would have all the pressure because she's obviously No.1. I was just trying to make it hard for her and to play my game and to fight until the very last point," WTA.com quoted Ostapenko as saying. Ostapenko saved a break point while serving to force a third set by hitting a strong, kicky second serve that drew a wide return. After a quick 80 minutes of play, the match entered a decider with that.

Ostapenko defeated Swiatek in the first game and built on that victory to take a 2-0 lead after finding the ideal balance of a controlled offence. The Latvian could tell that the moment was right as Swiatek's forehand started to commit more errors. Ostapenko, who entered the match with a decider record of 15-8, had played more three-set matches this season than anyone except Anastasia Potapova "There were some key moments in the second set. When I won it, especially the first game in the third set when I broke her, I felt like it was going more my way. I started to feel my game better. I put her under pressure, of course, because I was hitting quite many winners, and she didn't like the power I was giving her because she needed some time to play," Ostapenko said.

Ostapenko's victory snapped Swiatek's 33-match win streak when she won the first set at a Slam. Ostapenko broke again for a double-break lead at 3-0 with a barrage of attacks. After one hour and 48 minutes, she finished the match with a comfortable lead. "I'm just surprised that my level changed so drastically because usually when I play bad, I play bad at the beginning, then I kind of catch up or just problem-solve. This time it was totally the opposite," Swiatek said. "I don't really know what happened with my game. I felt no control suddenly. I just have to watch and see because, yeah, I didn't really know why I started making so many mistakes," she added.