{"id":96988,"date":"2023-09-04T10:59:22","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T10:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/04\/iga-swiatek-loses-to-jelena-ostapenko-in-new-york\/"},"modified":"2023-09-04T10:59:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T10:59:22","slug":"iga-swiatek-loses-to-jelena-ostapenko-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/09\/04\/iga-swiatek-loses-to-jelena-ostapenko-in-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"Iga Swiatek loses to Jelena Ostapenko in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"
Ostapenko, who won the 2017 French Open as an unseeded 20-year-old, is into the US Open quarter-finals for the first time
\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Iga Swiatek\u2019s defence of the US Open title was ended by an inspired performance from the huge-hitting Jelena Ostapenko in the last 16.<\/p>\n

Polish top seed Swiatek lost 3-6 6-3 6-1 to Latvian 20th seed Ostapenko during Sunday\u2019s night session in New York.<\/p>\n

With her fearless and aggressive approach, Ostapenko hit 31 winners and forced Swiatek into a host of mistakes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ostapenko, who won her sole major at the 2017 French Open, will face American sixth seed Coco Gauff next.<\/p>\n

Swiatek\u2019s 75-week streak as the women\u2019s world number one has been ended by the defeat, with Belarus\u2019 Aryna Sabalenka guaranteed to replace her after the US Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m surprised that my level changed so drastically,\u201d said 22-year-old Swiatek.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually when I play bad, I play bad at the beginning, then I catch up or problem solve. This time it was totally the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know what happened with my game. I felt no control suddenly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swiatek had lost all three of her previous meetings against Ostapenko, but the pair had not played since February 2022 \u2013 after which the Pole embarked on a transformational 37-match winning run.<\/p>\n

The run led to Swiatek taking over at the top of the WTA rankings, a place she had not relinquished since as her dominance increased.<\/p>\n

How she could cope with 26-year-old Ostapenko\u2019s powerful hitting was a key question in an intriguing match-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always expect a tough battle against Iga, she is such a great player and very consistent,\u201d said Ostapenko.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just went for it. I know I had to play my game and be aggressive because that is not what she likes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Iga
Swiatek lost from an opening-set lead for the first time since October 2022, snapping a 56-match streak<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After falling an early break behind, Swiatek began to soak up the groundstrokes and quickly turned an entertaining set around.<\/p>\n

But she lost serve again early in the second set and this time was unable to rescue the situation.<\/p>\n

Hurried by the pace of Ostapenko\u2019s returns, Swiatek continued to make errors in the rallies and quickly became completely overwhelmed in an extraordinary deciding set.<\/p>\n

Ostapenko landed a flurry of winners as she moved 5-0 ahead and had the opportunity to inflict a rare 6-0 scoreline on Swiatek, who has become known herself for winning \u2018bagels\u2019 against her opponents.<\/p>\n

While Swiatek avoided that fate by breaking serve, Ostapenko was not to be denied and fittingly secured victory with another inch-perfect forehand winner to seal a break to love.<\/p>\n

On closing out victory, she said: \u201cI was just thinking I have to play until the very last point.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was 5-0 up she was missing more but I thought I was playing better and not giving her any chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n