The Polish world No 1’s draw, a near replica of the one she was dealt at the Australian Open, was an obvious early talking point at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, with Linda Noskova, Jelena Ostapenko and Elena Rybakina all potentially blocking her path to a projected final against Aryna Sabalenka. Typically, though, Swiatek steadfastly refused to look beyond her opener against Danielle Collins – and no wonder, given how close the combative American came to defeating her in the second round at Melbourne Park. 

It is no secret that Swiatek can be vulnerable to a big shot-maker capable of attacking her second serve and rushing her off the ground, and that is most certainly a category into which Collins falls, as she demonstrated over the course of a highly competitive opening seven games. But neither is it news that, having established a lead, Swiatek rarely relinquishes it: unbeaten on the 65 previous occasions she had won the opening set at this level, the 22-year-old broke for the first time in the eighth game and never looked back, rattling off nine straight games to seal a 6-3, 6-0 victory. 

“For sure I’m happy that I started this tournament well, because first rounds aren’t easy and especially against Danielle, she’s really hitting the ball hard and pretty unpredictable,” said Swiatek. “I’m happy that I kept my focus and stuck with my game, no matter what Danielle was doing on the other side of the net.”

Call it another triumph of process over prognostication, a victory for staying in the moment rather than worrying about what lies ahead. Swiatek would not have it any other way. This was her 27th win in 29 matches dating back to last October, but she will not be counting. The focus now switches to Noskova, the 29th-ranked Czech who handed her a shock defeat at the Australian Open. Thoughts of revenge over the 19-year-old, who saw off Italy’s Camila Giorgi 6-3, 7-5, will be as far from her mind as dreams of another title in the California desert, to go with the one she won two years ago.

“I’m trying to set my goals for more technical stuff, like working on my serve and actually being more comfortable at the net,” said Swiatek, who won 71% of her first serve points against Collins. 

“It’s not tournament-related, it’s more process-related. That’s also kind of how Daria [Abramowicz, her sports psychologist] pushed me in that direction, so I think these goals are healthier.”

Results elsewhere offered further evidence of the merits of that measured approach. Overnight, the complexion of Swiatek’s tournament was transformed. Ostapenko, who has won all four of her previous meetings with the Pole, was stopped in her tracks by Angelique Kerber, who claimed her most notable result since returning from an 18-month maternity absence with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory over the Latvian 10th seed. Rybakina, meanwhile, was forced to abandon her title defence without striking a ball after once again falling victim to gastrointestinal problems. If Swiatek makes it through the next round, nobody will be making comparisons with the Australian Open.

The turning point against Collins came in the seventh game, where the 56th-ranked American laid the foundations for two break points with a thumping drive volley and a crisp forehand pass. Perhaps conscious that she might be playing her final match in the Coachella Valley after announcing that she will retire at the end of this season, the 30-year-old had been battering her returns and compensating for her inability to land a first serve by maintaining immaculate depth and pace in the baseline exchanges. 

A break at that stage could have made life complicated for Swiatek, but she staved off the danger and went on to hold with an ace. She would not lose another game, Collins’s errors mounting rapidly as she struggled to match aggression with consistency, hitting seven double faults and winning just half of her first serve points. An initially uncomfortable contest for Swiatek ended in a procession.

“I think most of the players would tell you that they don’t feel comfortable most of the time,” said Swiatek, who was forced to recover from 4-1 down in the deciding set when she met Collins at Melbourne Park two months ago. “If they have five tournaments during the year where they feel great, that’s a lot. So you just have to kind of don’t panic and take it step by step, because I already had plenty of tournaments where I didn’t play well during first matches, and then I was able to change my game and adjust a little bit more so I could win titles.  

“This gave me a little bit more perspective and it showed me that I shouldn’t judge too early my game, even though I may not play so well or feel comfortable. And for sure this kind of approach helps to find these solutions.”

Now recovered from last month’s demanding Middle East swing, where she won a third straight title in Doha before running out of steam against Anna Kalinskaya in the Dubai semi-finals, Swiatek will seek more solutions against Noskova on Sunday.

The post Swiatek survives early test to beat Collins in Indian Wells appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

On the eve of her title defence, Swiatek described last year’s US Open as “the most important tournament in terms of me believing in myself and progressing on hard courts” – quite a statement, given that, five months before her New York triumph, she became only the fourth woman ever to complete the Sunshine Double of Indian Wells and Miami.

Yet you could see exactly what the Pole meant.

Winning a hard-court major elevated Swiatek to a new level, cementing her transition from clay-court specialist to multi-surface threat. From that moment on, grand slam titles became the yardstick by which her career would be measured, not least by herself. It was not without reason that the 22-year-old spoke of having reached her goal for the season after this summer’s French Open win. Majors are the currency in which she deals now.  

So the manner in which Swiatek was relieved of both her US Open crown and the No 1 ranking by Jelena Ostapenko, the Latvian 20th seed, will have hurt. Even allowing for Ostapenko’s unbeaten record against the world’s best player, it was a shock to see Swiatek fall away as dramatically as she did in the latter stages of a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 defeat.

That is not to deny the quality of Ostapenko’s performance, which was even more formidable than her tally of 31 winners would suggest. For every ball the 2017 French Open champion fired past Swiatek with such brutal force and conviction, there were two more that harried the Pole into huge shanks and mishits. By the end, it felt almost as though the chances of Swiatek hitting the backstop or the lines were about 50/50. 

“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,” said Swiatek. “This time it was totally the opposite. 

“I don’t really know what happened with my game. I felt no control suddenly. I just have to watch and see, because I didn’t really know why I started making so many mistakes… My mistakes were so huge.”

It is no secret that Swiatek can be vulnerable to an opponent possessed of the firepower to exploit her second serve and rush her off the ground, and that is certainly a category into which Ostapenko falls. Yet her problems ran deeper than simply being denied time on the ball. As Swiatek demonstrated in winning the opening set – and almost cancelling out a 4-1 deficit in the second – she was just as capable of rushing Ostapenko as vice versa. 

Ostapenko acknowledged Swiatek’s difficulties against big-hitters – “She likes to have some time; when I play fast, aggressive and powerful, she’s a little bit in trouble,” said the Latvian – but, tellingly, she attributed her victory to poise as much as potency.

“Maybe, in the second and third set, I was a little bit more consistent and didn’t go for crazy shots,” said Ostapenko. “I was going for shots when I had a chance of doing that.”

From Swiatek’s perspective, there were too many such chances. A case in point came in the third game of the decider, where Ostapenko hammered four huge forehands to go up a double break. It was brilliant ball-striking, no doubt. But why was Ostapenko presented with four forehands in the first place? Three of those opportunities came off returns, so it is not as though Swiatek had no control over the situation.

And yes, of course tactical clarity can be elusive in the deciding set of a big match. But with coaching permitted these days, it seemed strange that there was no intervention from Swiatek’s box, where the worried glances exchanged between her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, and Daria Abramowicz, her psychologist, did not appear to be parlayed into any kind of tactical guidance. 

Lord knows, she could have done with it. Serving into the body made sense in theory, given Ostapenko’s penchant for taking big cuts at the ball. In practice, though, Swiatek’s deliveries too often strayed directly into her opponent’s strike zone. Greater variety would have helped, and to her credit Swiatek was quick to recognise the issue, switching things up on several occasions after Ostapenko landed heavy blows on the return.

By then, though, the damage had been done. Ostapenko thrives on confidence, and will have been delighted by her ability to discomfit the top seed. Certainly she was less troubled by Swiatek’s serving than she might have been had her rival found the corners more often. 

“A lot of times she was serving in my body,” said Ostapenko. “Of course, I realised it during the match and I was ready for it. She improved her serve. It’s much stronger now. 

“[But] as I said, I was ready for this and I think I’m returning pretty well, so that’s not a big problem for me.”

Most significantly, the mental and emotional dynamics of the contest weighed heavily in Ostapenko’s favour. She spoke beforehand of having nothing to lose, yet the exasperated looks she cast to her courtside box as she fell behind early on did not speak of a player resigned to her fate. It took just four games for the Latvian to dismiss one of her support team from the stands, a sure sign that she had grander ambitions than she was letting on. This was Ostapenko’s kind of match – big stage, big opponent, big stakes – and she was not about to let the moment pass without having a proper go.

One year on, did complaints about the regular duty balls used in the women’s events during last year’s US Open series also contribute to Swiatek’s difficulties? The switch from last season’s regular duty ball to the same heavy duty version used by the men did not prevent her shots from flying, most notably when she almost hit the backstop with a regulation backhand midway through the second set. If anything, the thicker felt tends to favour big ball-strikers like Ostapenko, affording them more control. Admittedly that did not prevent the Latvian from racking up a combined total of 117 unforced errors over the previous two rounds. But it may just have helped her to limit them to 20 when it most mattered.

While Ostapenko was able to swing with freedom, for Swiatek, defending both a grand slam title and the No 1 ranking she has held since last April, the pressure could not have been greater. Aryna Sabalenka will ascend to top spot after the tournament, and while the Belarusian celebrated her newfound status with a comfortable 6-1, 6-3 victory over Daria Kasatkina, Swiatek is left to contemplate the end of a 75-week reign as the world’s best player. It is a mantle that, she admitted, has recently weighed heavily on her. 

“It meant a lot,” said Swiatek. “It was great. On the other hand, this last part, it was pretty exhausting. I still need to do all this stuff that my team and all these great players like Roger [Federer], Novak [Djokovic] or [Rafa Nadal] are telling you about: you just have to focus on the tournaments, not the rankings.  

“Usually I’m not looking at numbers but, overall, I love them. I would love to extend this record a little bit longer. For sure when you lose it, there are some sad emotions. [But] as I said, all these great players know it’s going to come back if you work hard, focus on the right things, just develop as a player.”

What might that development look like? A more compact forehand would certainly make Swiatek less vulnerable to big hitters. She made a combined total of 27 groundstroke errors against Ostapenko (15 unforced, 12 forced); of those, 18 came off the forehand side. It is clear where the issue lies, but the nature of the fix is perhaps less obvious. After all that Swiatek has won with her existing swing, particularly on clay, just how sensible would it be to make a significant technical change purely to address a problem only a handful of players are capable of exploiting?

That is a question for Wiktorowski, who faced a similar challenge in the later years of his coaching partnership with Agnieszka Radwanska. History suggests the experienced Polish coach will look carefully at the bigger picture before placing too much emphasis on the significance of isolated results. Ostapenko’s 6-0, 6-2 quarter-final defeat to Coco Gauff will do nothing to discourage that view. While it is not a coincidence that Swiatek succumbed to a pair of big-hitters at this season’s hard-court slams – she was beaten by Elena Rybakina at the same stage of the Australian Open, one of three setbacks she has suffered against the powerful Kazakh in 2023 – the smart money is on evolution rather than revolution. 

With that in mind, there is obvious scope for greater variety in Swiatek’s game. Some of the tools at her disposal remain underutilised. The lesser spotted Swiatek sliced backhand (see also: Bad Homburg) made an appearance in the second game against Ostapenko, immediately drawing a forehand error from the Latvian, yet it was not a tactic to which the Pole returned. Neither has the drop shot, another stroke with which she has experimented this season, become a staple of the Swiatek arsenal. And while the quality of her transition game has improved immensely, the Pole typically tends to move forward only when the point is all but won, rather than seeking to force the issue from the net. 

So there are plenty of potential areas to work on, and the signs are that Swiatek intends to do just that.

“I’m happy that I’m going to have some time now to practise because I really, really need that, and I really miss that,” she said. “I’m happy that I’ll have time to reset and go home for a while and just spend time a little bit more differently than on tour.”

This year’s US Open may not have ended as Swiatek would have wished. Yet, if the tournament proves to be the catalyst for the next stage in her evolution, it could once again prove a watershed moment.

The post Where did Iga’s US Open go wrong – and what next? appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Juvan, a Slovenian qualifier ranked 145, is Swiatek’s closest friend on the WTA Tour, although you would hardly have known it. The Polish world No 1 had not allowed her an inch all afternoon but now, for the first time, Juvan had a game point. When she converted it, after Swiatek sent a backhand return sailing beyond the baseline, a beaming Juvan waved her fist and then raised both arms aloft, drinking in the applause of the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd. At the other end, the defending champion shadow-stroked a backhand, evidently wondering what had gone wrong. 

It was vintage Swiatek: focused, unflappable, inward-looking. If there was a part of her that felt happy at not visiting humiliation on a woman she has known since they were both aged 13, she did not show it. Her concentration is absolute. Carlos Alcaraz-style smiles in the heat of battle are just not Swiatek’s thing. Laser-like focus is the only way she knows and, given that it has carried her to 74 weeks at No 1 and four grand slam titles, who is to argue? 

“I wasn’t laughing, for sure,” said Swiatek after making just five unforced errors in a 49-minute, 6-0, 6-1 victory. “For sure it wasn’t an easy match for her. Emotionally as well, it’s not easy to play with such a score.  

“But I really just wanted to focus on myself. I think also, because I knew that it was going to be a little bit harder for me to focus because she’s my best friend, I was actually more focused than usual.  

“I’m happy that I could do that and I was fully professional. Usually in a match when something like that happens, I don’t really look. I did the same this time as well.”

There is a difference, however, between not engaging in such moments and not wanting to engage. Swiatek’s relentless appetite to improve extends not only to forehands and backhands, but also to learning how to take a more relaxed and balanced approach to her tennis. It is an area on which she received advice from Roger Federer when she met the Swiss legend at a promotional event in Brooklyn last week. 

“I kind of have to learn how to find more joy [in being No1],” said Swiatek. “I talked with Roger about that last week, and the best way to approach it is really to embrace it and be proud and happy with your results.

“I wouldn’t say I got used to it, but for sure I’m learning how to navigate it.”

The Pole has also noted with wonder the approach adopted by her childhood idol Rafael Nadal, who took time out at Roland Garros last year to watch his beloved Real Madrid face Liverpool in the Champions League final at the Stade de France. Despite a chaotic journey to the ground, Nadal defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime the following day and went on to win his 14th French Open title. Swiatek looked on enviously. 

“I was so shocked because Rafa went, and I know that the [Champions League] final finished really late,” said Swiatek. “I was like, ‘Oh, I wish I could have done that as well.’ But it’s years of experience and learning how to still have energy and focus on your match, because he played [the] day session next day. 

“I wish I could do that, but I’m getting better. I also talked with other athletes that already finished their careers and have a lot of experience, and they also said I shouldn’t rush it. I should really do it step by step.”

Swiatek’s next step in New York will be a last-16 showdown with Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 winner over Bernarda Pera, has won each of their three previous meetings, all of which came before the Pole ascended to the No 1 ranking last March. She feels she has nothing to lose.

“I’m just going to play my game and focus more on myself,” said Ostapenko. “For sure it’s going to be a difficult match. On the other hand, I have nothing to lose and I’m already in the fourth round. I think it’s a good achievement, especially at the end of the year. I’m just going to play my best.”

Swiatek, who must outperform Aryna Sabalenka at Flushing Meadows if she is to retain top spot, is alive to the potential danger.

“With Jelena, it’s a little bit like one day she can play a perfect match and just put everything in even though she’s really risking, and another day can be different,” said Swiatek. “You never know what to expect.”

As Juvan can attest, however, perfect matches are hardly foreign territory to Swiatek either. It promises to be an intriguing contest.

The post Swiatek puts friendship aside to crush Juvan at US Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

What promised to be an intriguing meeting of two former grand slam champions rapidly developed into an execution. Free-swinging and fearless, Ostapenko rifled a backhand return to secure an early break and never looked back, overwhelming Raducanu with the power and quality of her ball-striking as she fired 26 winners off the ground. While Raducanu gathered a meagre nine points against serve, Ostapenko was ruthless off the return, treating Raducanu’s second serve with disdain as she fashioned five break points and converted each of them.

“I felt like I was playing really well today and played very aggressive,” said Ostapenko, who will face a sterner examination in the next round against Ons Jabeur, the third seed. “I didn’t give her many chances to really play her game.”

A quarter-finalist in Stuttgart last year, Raducanu, who will now fall to 83 in the rankings, looked as short on quality as she did on confidence, perhaps understandably given that this was her first match since she was beaten by Bianca Andreescu in the first round of the Miami Open almost a month ago. About the only positive she can draw from her first clay-court outing of the season is that she showed no obvious sign of the recurring wrist problem she has been managing since late last year  – although, with points to defend next week at the Madrid Open, the blow to her self-esteem from such a resounding defeat may prove no less injurious. 

That said, it should not be forgotten that, facing Iga Swiatek on the same court this time last year, Raducanu gave a decent account of herself. The manner in which she was blown away this time around, at one point losing 16 successive points as Ostapenko compiled a 4-1 second-set lead, is indicative of how well the Latvian performed on the day. 

“I knew against her the main thing was to step in the court, and of course I missed some balls, but I was trying to be aggressive all the time when it was possible,” said Ostapenko in her on-court interview. “I just tried to take the ball early and not give her many chances. I think it worked pretty well and, finally, I’m back on clay on my favourite surface.

“I felt like I was stepping back a little bit too much in the years when I wasn’t playing well,” added Ostapenko, who has advanced beyond the second round at Roland Garros just once in five attempts since her title win in 2017. “When I step in the court and play fearless like at the French Open and try to hit winners – of course not crazy, but play a bit smarter – that’s what works well.” 

In the lower half of the draw, Paula Badosa  brushed aside Daria Kasatkina, the Russian seventh seed, for the loss of just two games. 

“It was a pretty big performance from my side, I think I played very well,” said Badosa following her 6-1, 6-1 victory. “I was expecting a very tough match, I know she’s a top player and we always have battles, but I’m really happy about my level today.”

Badosa, the world No 31, will face Cristina Bucșa, a fellow Spaniard, in the next round.

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“I kind of knew what to expect on these big courts, and I just tried to do my best,” said Rybakina after defeating Iga Swiatek, the world No 1, in the fourth round of the Australian Open. 

“A few games I was not really successful on my serve, but in the end I think I did a good job.”

If that felt like an understatement, given the magnitude of a 6-4, 6-4 win that leaves a gaping hole in the top half of the women’s draw, it was nonetheless true to form. 

Rybakina, a rangy, powerful 23-year-old with a thunderclap serve, does not do hyperbole. She demonstrated as much with her phlegmatic reaction to victory at the All England Club last summer. The equanimity with which she went about her business said much about the self-belief instilled by that breakthrough, yet wider appreciation has been slow in coming, her talent obscured by a deceptively modest ranking of 25th. 

As Swiatek would be the first to admit, Rybakina is a good deal better than that. The decision to withhold ranking points from Wimbledon, taken in response to the tournament’s refusal to admit players from Russia and Belarus, has denied the Kazakh her place in the natural order. Bereft of the 2,000 points that would ordinarily have accompanied her win in SW19, she has become an unacknowledged champion, a first-class flyer relegated to coach. At the US Open, where she was consigned to the shadowlands of court 12 and lost in the first round, Rybakina said she did not feel like a grand slam champion. Her Australian Open challenge began on court 13. She has learned not to care.

“I love to compete, and no matter where I play,” said Rybakina. “So for now, I would say that I don’t really look at these things.”

Swiatek, the French and US Open winner and a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park last year, arrived in Australia as the clear title favourite. Yet, in the first meeting between two reigning grand slam champions since Serena Williams faced Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon in 2016, her afternoon started badly and rapidly got worse. Warned for a time violation after taking longer than the allotted one minute to start the match following the warm-up, the Polish top seed lost her opening service game after leading 40-0, then failed to convert two opportunities to break back. 

Swiatek recovered with trademark assurance, some silken returning securing a love break two games later, but further woe was to come. On an afternoon when she struggled to find consistency on the first serve, the Pole gifted her opponent a break point in the seventh game with her only double fault of the match. Rybakina gleefully converted with a searing backhand return and, having seized the initiative for a second time, she would not be caught, sealing the set with the fourth of her six aces. 

Fast starts were a regular feature of Swiatek’s dominant performances last year, and it was natural to wonder whether the unusual circumstances at the outset of the match had affected her. The Pole conceded that it was strange, but was more perturbed by her inability to sustain her momentum once she had re-established herself in the contest.

“It was weird because actually the umpire was talking to me, and I didn’t understand her twice because I didn’t hear,” said Swiatek. “It doesn’t really matter, but for sure the fact that I had 40-15 in the first two games, and I couldn’t close it was a little bit disturbing, but then I came back, and I was pretty happy with how disciplined I am.  

“Still, when the balls got a little bit old and I served with the sun in my eyes, Elena broke me, and that was kind of weird for me because usually when I come back from being down, I’m able to hold that momentum. Today, I lost it.”

As Swiatek acknowledged, that owed much to the quality of an opponent who was steadier and more tactically composed. As last summer’s defeats to Caroline Garcia, Beatriz Haddad Maia and Madison Keys demonstrated, the 21-year-old tends to be at her most vulnerable against exponents of aggressive, first-strike tennis who are willing to take the ball on and rush her. Rybakina certainly meets that description, and she frequently treated the world No 1’s second serve with contempt, battering winners with her clean, heavy returns. Allied with the quality of her own serving – she lost just six points behind her first delivery – it proved an irresistible combination. 

Swiatek reeled off the first three games of the second set, briefly raising hopes of a revival. But she would win only more game as Rybakina, impregnable on serve, forced her way back into contention before receding into the distance. Though she cut a frustrated figure towards the end, Swiatek was sanguine afterwards, suggesting she had been overburdened by the weight of expectation as she attempts to live up to her historic achievements last year, when she won eight titles and compiled the longest winning streak since 1990.

“I felt like I took a step back in terms of how I approach these tournaments, and I maybe wanted it a little bit too hard,” said Swiatek. “So I’m going to try to chill out a little bit more.”

Swiatek’s defeat marks the first time in the open era that the top two seeds in both the men’s and women’s draws have been ousted before the quarter-finals at a slam. Rafael Nadal, the top seed in the men’s singles, was beaten by Mackenzie McDonald after suffering a hip injury, while Casper Ruud was upset by Jenson Brooksby. Ons Jabeur, the women’s second seed, suffered a shock loss to Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic.

Swiatek was swiftly followed out of the tournament by Coco Gauff, who was beaten 7-5, 6-3 by Jelena Ostapenko, the Latvian 17th seed and former French Open champion. Ostapenko spanked 30 winners and converted all three of the break points she held, also saving all but one of the eight she faced. Gauff, seeded seventh, struggled to contain her emotions as she faced the media afterwards.

“She hit a lot of winners, which not a lot of people can do on me,” said Gauff. “I think she did a great job.

“I think every loss is somewhat in my control, because I do feel like I’m a good player. But today she just played better. 

“There were moments in the match where I was getting frustrated because I normally can problem-solve, but today I felt like I didn’t have many answers to what she was doing.”

It is a feeling with which Swiatek will sympathise.

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Poised, positive and serving bombs on the grass courts of Eastbourne, just as she has been all week, Kvitova defeated defending champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 to claim her first title on the east Sussex coast. 

The victory eclipsed the Czech’s previous best performance at Eastbourne, which came 11 years ago when she was beaten in the final by Marion Bartoli before going on to win the first of her two Wimbledon titles. Among active players, only fellow former Wimbledon champions Serena and Venus Williams have more than Kvitova’s five grass-court titles. 

On this form, a third victory at the All England Club is by no means unthinkable. It is not often that Ostapenko gets outgunned, but the powerful ninth-seeded Latvian had no answer to a player whose swinging southpaw serve, powerful, flat groundstrokes and first-strike mentality are tailor-made for grass-court tennis. 

“I know that Jelena is playing well here on the grass, defending champion, so I was really prepared for the fast, aggressive game she played,” said Kvitova, who went unbroken at Devonshire Park from the quarter-finals onwards.

“I knew I had to put her second serve [back in court], especially, and I was just going for it, trying to play aggressive from the first point, so that she didn’t have time on [the ball]. I think it was working very nicely. I had some points which I think I should have gone for a little bit more, or played it to the other side, but overall I can’t complain.” 

It was certainly a closer affair than the scoreline might suggest. Ostapenko battled tigerishly to overcome an erratic start, twice staving off points to avoid falling a double break behind, and after dropping serve again early in the second set she very nearly hit back immediately. Kvitova had to serve her way out of all sorts of trouble but, once she had seen off five break points to consolidate her advantage at 3-1, the momentum shifted decisively in her favour. 

“If felt like if, in some moments, I was playing a little bit more consistently, and not missing [so] much, the match could always be much closer or turn the other way,” said Ostapenko, who had particular cause to rue a forehand return she screwed into the alley on her fifth break point of that vital fourth game. 

There was still time for a final act of defiance from the 25-year-old, who bounced back from match point down with two consecutive aces and a forehand winner to hold in the penultimate game. From there, though, Kvitova served out confidently to claim her first title since winning on hard courts in Qatar in March of last year. 

Kvitova, 32, has not been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2014, the year of her last title triumph. Seeded 25th, she faces Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the opening round. Should she make it through to a projected third-round meeting with Paula Badosa, the fourth-ranked Spaniard who was stunned by Britain’s Jodie Burrage in round two of Eastbourne, she would be a notional underdog but an instinctive favourite.

Kvitova finds herself in a fascinating quarter of the draw in SW19, one that includes the returning Serena Williams, last year’s beaten finalist Karolina Pliskova, and former champion Simona Halep. Should she somehow navigate a route to the semi-final, a potential Centre Court showdown with top seed Iga Swiatek would make for fascinating viewing. Kvitova, though, is not getting carried away.

“It’s a different tournament, a different week, and in tennis this is very tricky,” she said. “You just have to forget what was, and focus on what is next.”

In the men’s final, Taylor Fritz defeated Maxime Cressy 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5) to claim his second Eastbourne title. The Californian, who won the biggest title of his career in Indian Wells earlier this year, did not face a break point throughout. 

“There is something about this place,” said Fritz, the 2019 champion, on court afterwards. “It is where I won my first title and when I got here on the first day this week, I felt that I was playing so much better than before. This place has a special spot in my heart.” 

At the Bad Homburg Open in Germany, Caroline Garcia of France trailed by a set and a break before fighting back to beat former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4.

In Mallorca, Stefanos Tsitsipas bounced back from his defeat against Andy Murray in Stuttgart last week to claim the first grass-court title of his career. Tsitsipas, the world No 6, defeated Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2).

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Ons Jabeur had struggled all evening to find her best tennis, but as she served to stay in the match at a set and 5-2 down, the Tunisian’s game was belatedly sparking into life. Jabeur saved one match point with a crisp, ankle-height volley and another with an overhead. A conservative return proved Badosa’s undoing on a third, and when Jabeur not only held but immediately opened up a 0-40 lead in the next game, the Spaniard’s first serve deserting her, a result that had looked a formality only moments earlier suddenly hung in the balance.

The Badosa who started this year ranked 70th in the world might have buckled. The Badosa who will rise to a career high of 11th if she prevails in Sunday’s final against Victoria Azarenka refused to yield. Badosa had shown steely resolve to see out a straight sets win over Angelique Kerber in the previous round after the German had clawed her way back into contention from a set and 5-2 down, and her self-belief was once again evident here. An off-forehand winner and a couple of solid points from the back brought the 21st seed back to deuce, and although she would miss a further two match points – the first when a thunderbolt forehand from Jabeur kissed the back edge of the baseline, the next with a nervy double fault, her second of the game – Badosa finally clinched the contest at the sixth opportunity, a Jabeur backhand drifting wide.

Badosa may not have Jabeur’s extensive repertoire of shots at her disposal, but this was a performance that spoke volumes about her virtues, from the excellence of her return game to her superb movement and teak-tough mentality. Jabeur, who with her quarter-final win over Anett Kontaevit became the first Arab player to make the top 10, had rightly stolen the headlines going into the contest. But Badosa’s progress in the California desert, where, in addition to Kerber, she has also seen off Coco Gauff for the loss of just four games and beaten French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, has been no less impressive. Like Jabeur, she will rise to a career-high ranking next week, breaking into the top 20 for the first time regardless of the outcome against Azarenka, and like Jabeur she is closing in on a possible maiden appearance at the season-ending WTA Tour finals in Guadalajara. 

“I think I improved a lot on my tennis,” said Badosa, the first Spanish woman to reach the final since Conchita Martinez in 1996, following her 6-3, 6-3 win. “Mentally, I think I’m very confident. I’m believing every point. Every day I’m working very hard as well. I think I’m progressing on a little bit of everything and that’s what is making my level going up. That’s why I’m in a final and playing against the best of the world.”

Azarenka, a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 winner over Jelena Ostapenko, will nonetheless have taken note of Badosa’s recent struggles down the home straight. The Belarusian, twice the champion in Indian Wells, recovered from a set and a break down against Ostapenko, and vowed afterwards: “I’m going to fight until the end, so if you [want] to beat me, you have to beat me all the way.” 

Badosa, for her part, needs no reminding of Azarenka’s pedigree. “Vika, she’s an amazing champion,” said the Spaniard. “She has been here a lot of times. She has a lot of experience there. I expect a tough match.

“I’ve seen her a lot, a lot of finals, winning grand slams, 1000 tournaments. I know how she’s playing. She’s very intense. She’s a tough one. She’s a competitor. She fights until the last ball. 

“But I like these kind of matches. I’ve never been through to a final, so I can’t wait to play it. I always dreamed to be in one. I can’t wait.”

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Through it all, the one constant has been Ostapenko’s commitment to attacking tennis, and it was that enduring quality that saw her past Shelby Rogers at Indian Wells as she overcame a mid-match dip to reach her biggest semi-final since that run in Miami three years ago.

Full of confidence after subduing second seed Iga Swiatek in the previous round, Ostapenko made a storming start, winning five of the first six games to establish a commanding lead. The barrage of winners slowly subsided, however, and as Rogers came to terms with the firepower being thrown at her, she won three successive games to lend an air of respectability to the first-set scoreline. 

“From 5-1, I just stepped back a little bit and I was not that aggressive, and also maybe missed some balls, kind of gave her the opportunity to play,” said Ostapenko, the 24th seed. “If I just was playing the same like until 5-1, I think I could close the set a little bit easier than 6-4. I felt like I was rushing a little bit too much and making some stupid errors.”

Ostapenko was playing with fire. Rogers’ sparkling form of late has carried her to victories over world No 1 Ashleigh Barty at the US Open and, in the previous round here, Flushing Meadows finalist Leylah Fernandez. Having gained a foothold in the match, the tenacious American roused herself, treating Ostapenko’s second serve with the same contempt her own had received in the initial stages as she levelled the contest before racing ahead in the decider.

Rogers held three break points for a 4-1 lead in the third set, but a fired-up Ostapenko staved off the danger with some audacious play as she held firm for a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win.

“I think at that moment I just started to play really well,” said Ostapenko, who fill face former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka in Friday’s semi-final. “I raised my level. I think from 1-3 down, 0-40, I played like a top player. Before, I was rushing too much, making some unforced errors not in the right moments.

“I was just trying to kind of motivate myself and fight for every point … I felt like I needed to fire myself up, have some emotions, and that will help me. I think that did help me.”

Azarenka charted a more serene course to the last four, avenging her first-round defeat to Jessica Pegula at this year’s Australian Open with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the American. 

“I started going for my shots from the beginning,” said Azarenka, who is bidding for a third title in Indian Wells. “I knew I had to apply pressure on her. 

“I think in the beginning of the match we had a lot of great rallies, a lot of points where I was like, ‘Oh, maybe I got this one,’ and she got me. I felt that I really just stuck to being aggressive and being consistent. I got my opportunities.”

In the top half of the draw, Anett Kotaveit of Estonia, the 18th seed, will face Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur for a place in the semi-finals, while former finalist Angelique Kerber takes on Spain’s Paula Badosa.

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