Slam champions Rybakina, Ostapenko set marquee third-round meeting in Paris
Friday's third-round lineup at the French Open will boast a big-hitting showdown between two Grand Slam champions, No. 12 seed Elena Rybakina and No. 21 seed Jelena Ostapenko.
Roland Garros: Draws | Scores | 411
Rybakina of Kazakhstan, a two-time Roland Garros quarterfinalist (2021, 2024) defeated 17-year-old American wild card Iva Jovic, 6-3, 6-3 on Court Simonne-Mathieu as dusk settled on Wednesday.
Earlier that evening, Latvia's Ostapenko, the 2017 Roland Garros champion, had to come from behind to beat another American. Ostapenko outlasted 67th-ranked Caroline Dolehide, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in a hair under two hours on Court 7.
Rivalry recap: In their head-to-head, Rybakina narrowly leads Ostapenko 3-2. Rybakina has won their last three meetings (all in 2023) including their only previous clay-court meeting at 2023 Rome.
"[Ostapenko is a] dangerous opponent," Rybakina said on Wednesday. "She hits the ball really hard. She can be very aggressive. So I will definitely need to focus a lot on my serve, be focused, be solid, patient, take the chances when I get them.
"If I serve well, I have a good placement that day, it's not easy to return no matter who's on the other side. But definitely she has some good shots which, even if you serve well, it can be tough because she can return really well. We will see how it's going to go."
The streak continues: Rybakina is on a six-match winning streak. She comes into Roland Garros on the back of a title last week in Strasbourg -- that was her fourth career clay-court title, and her first title of any kind in over a year.
"Takes time for me to get back where I want to be," Rybakina said. "But slowly I think we are on the right direction, working pretty much on everything to be better every day. "
Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, already played and defeated Jovic in the same round of this year's Australian Open. Rybakina won that one quite handily, 6-0, 6-3.
Jovic has continued to improve since then. The 17-year-old is up to World No. 129 this week, having won a W100 ITF Challenger title on clay last month in Charlottesville, Virginia. That helped her earn the USTA's wild card into Roland Garros.
Despite a closer clash on Wednesday, Rybakina still had the upper hand. Rybakina powered to a critical break at 5-3 in the first set. She saved two break points in the following game, then converted her first set point with her fourth ace.
Rybakina jumped out to an early lead in the second set, then cruised from there. She broke Jovic once more for good measure in the last game, closing out her latest win in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Rybakina finished the match with 25 winners to Jovic's seven.
Ostapenko's best Paris run in years: Ostapenko won her first Grand Slam title -- and, in fact, her first tour-level title, period -- here as an unseeded player in 2017, mere days after her 20th birthday.
The Latvian used that as a springboard to a strong WTA career, cracking the Top 5 in 2018 and winning eight more WTA titles. Her most recent title came on the indoor clay of Stuttgart last month, where she beat World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
Despite all of this success, Ostapenko has recently underperformed at Roland Garros relative to her 2017 title run -- she has yet to make the Round of 16 since then. This is only the second time since hoisting the 2017 trophy that she has made the third round in Paris. The last time she made it this far was 2020.
Ostapenko was close to being toppled again, as Dolehide gritted out a tough one-set lead in their first career meeting. However, Ostapenko went 4-for-4 on break points in the last two sets to completely turn around the affair and clinch the victory.
