Ostapenko continues red-hot form to make third Wimbledon quarterfinal

WIMBLEDON — Jelena Ostapenko is still in the zone. The No.13 seed raced past Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-3 in 68 minutes to reach her third Wimbledon quarterfinal, and first since 2018.

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In four matches so far this fortnight, the Latvian has dropped just 15 games — the lowest number of any player to get to the last eight since Victoria Azarenka’s 14 in 2012 — and spent 4 hours and 5 minutes on court. Her tally of 29 winners against Putintseva took her tournament total to 88 in 63 games played.

Ostapenko and Putintseva had come into this match, their fifth overall meeting, with a tied head-to-head at two wins apiece. Three of the previous four matches had gone the distance. Moreover, Putintseva had been on an eight-match winning streak that included her first grass-court title in Birmingham two weeks previously, and an upset of World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the previous round.

However, Ostapenko’s emphatic victory moved the former Roland Garros champion into the last eight of a major for the sixth time overall. She will bid for a third Grand Slam semifinal against either No.11 seed Danielle Collins or No.31 seed Barbora Krejcikova.

Ostapenko is also the only player so far to reach both the singles and doubles last eight. On Sunday, No.9 seeds Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok defeated Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. Krejcikova can potentially join her, if she defeats Collins and also wins her doubles third-round contest, partnering Laura Siegemund, over Chan Hao-Ching and Veronika Kudermetova.

How the match was won: Despite the scoreline, it was a match of two halves for Ostapenko. The 27-year-old made a blistering start, dropping just seven points as she raced out to a 5-0 lead.

But in the second set, Putintseva made her work hard for victory — and the story of that set wasn’t just Ostapenko’s barrage of winners but her clutch play. She dropped serve at the start of the set, and had to battle through at least one deuce to hold each subsequent service game. Having committed just eight unforced errors in the first set, she misfired 18 times in the second.

However, Ostapenko stayed committed to an aggressive strategy which prevented Putintseva extending the rallies into her preferred exchanges. Her final winner, to seal her third match point, was her most creative of the day — a sliced backhand down the line that demonstrated her touch as well as power.

Ostapenko on being in the zone: “I’m playing aggressive, playing my game, just enjoying it probably more than before. I’m probably more confident and more mature on the court, this tournament especially. I kind of know what I have to do, and I’m doing it quite well, especially in deciding moments. I’m just doing the things that I’ve been doing before, like when I won French Open, when I was back in Top 10.

“I have the ability to hit the ball hard, so why I shouldn’t use it?”