She was last year’s girls’ champion at Wimbledon. Just 12 months on, she has created the upset of the women’s draw.
Jelena Ostapenko, an 18-year-old wild card from Latvia ranked No.147, stunned No.9 seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-0 in just 53 minutes for the biggest win of her fledgling career.
She did so thanks primarily to her fabulous backhand, which produced winner after winner to leave the Spaniard completely flat-footed. It improved as the match wore on; she landed several backhand winners on her way to breaking for 5-0 in the second set, and another to bring up match point in the following game.
A Suarez Navarro forehand error terminated the match, sending Ostapenko into a second-round meeting with Kristina Mladenovic.
Suarez Navarro managed just one winner for the entire match while Ostapenko cracked 30; it was the No.9 seed's earliest departure from the All England Club in three years.
“I was playing so good today. I was playing aggressive, and trying to stay aggressive but be smart – don’t hit from the first shot like crazy. And when I could I finished the point,” Ostapenko said.
Ostapenko had never before faced a top-50 opponent, and until now had only played six top 100-ranked players.
I was playing so good today. I was playing aggressive, and trying to stay aggressive but be smart
“I mean yeah (I’m surprised by the score) because she’s top 10, she’s a really great player. And I played my best today. And that’s why I won, probably,” she laughed.
Karolina Pliskova threatened to join Suarez Navarro on the sidelines before gritting her way to victory over Irina Falconi. The No.11 seed lost the range on her powerful serve and penetrating ground strokes in the second set before emerging with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 win.
Elsewhere around the All England Club grounds, several other women’s seeds suffered no such troubles.
I never want to compare my game to what I've been playing like two, three years ago...
Victoria Azarenka, a former world No.1 yet seeded No.23 as she makes her way back from an injury-ravaged 2014 season, brushed aside Estonian Anett Kontaveit in less than an hour.
The Belarusian breezed to a 6-2, 6-1 triumph, built upon a foundation of deep returns, forceful play from the baseline and impressive serving. She served out the match with a love game.
“I think it was a very solid performance. I felt I was in control pretty much the whole time... of course first match you get a little bit nervous but I felt like I handled it well, I was focused through my match and especially in the second set I felt like the momentum was going my way,” said Azarenka.
“I’m very excited to play and I feel really happy to be on the court, and I’m ready to stay there as long as I need to. I feel that my game is improving and I’m really starting to perfect those little things and put my game together.”
In Azarenka’s Grand Slam-winning heyday, she was commanding the world’s biggest show courts. Yet the more intimate, tucked-away setting of Court 12 did nothing to affect the enjoyment she was experiencing at being out on court healthy and competing well.
“I never want to compare my game to what I’ve been playing like two, three years ago; I feel like my level is higher now and I have a lot more to offer. It’s just a matter of making it consistent,” she said.
“I feel like I’m on a very good track right now.”
So too is No.7 seed Ana Ivanovic, who swung her grass-court season around with a dominant performance against Xu Yi-Fan of China.
The Serb lost her only grass-court match of the season in Birmingham to the then-ranked No.135 Michelle Larcher de Brito, yet on Monday she won 6-1, 6-1 in 61 minutes, smacking 29 winners to 12 and landing six aces.
“I really felt early loss in Birmingham gave me time to work on some things. Even before Birmingham we decided that week we will work on things,” she said.
“We didn't have time at the time then to have so much practice on grass, but now coming into this week, I feel like I implemented some things that we worked on, and that really makes me happy.”
#Wimbledon2015 I AM READY FOR YOU!! pic.twitter.com/D3RK2uYoTE
— Ana Ivanovic (@AnaIvanovic) June 28, 2015
