Latvia’s first racket, Aļona Ostapenko, started the Wimbledon championship with a difficult victory in three sets on Monday in London.
Ostapenko, who is on the 35th place in the WTA ranking and is not among the seeded players after a break of several years, beat England’s Herieta Dart, who is ranked 151st in the world and had received a special invitation or “wild card” to participate in the tournament, with 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
The host won the next two games, but Ostapenko won the fourth set. She did not use two consecutive set points in the eighth game, but in the ninth game with a shot from the comfortable side of the line, she realized the second of three set points.
Darta started the second set with a serve, making it 3-0 in her favor, and Ostapenko failed to fight back.
The first racket of Latvia started the third set with a serve, the tennis player who did not serve won the first four games.
Ostapenko won the next two games, but Dart tied the score – 4-4.
In the ninth game, Ostapenko returned a break point, but in the tenth game, she sent the ball down the line with a shot from the comfortable side – 6-4.
Ostapenko scored more points with aces (5:3), but committed more double faults (13:3).
She managed to convert 40% (6/15) of her break points into points, while her opponent was able to do so in 55.6% (5/9) cases.
The British tennis player hit the first serve on the court more often (63.7% (65/102) against 56.2% (50/89) for the Latvian tennis player, but the Latvian first racket scored more points in percentage – 68% (34/50) compared to Darta’s 55.4% (36/65).
Throughout the match, Ostapenko won 101 of 191 games.
29-year-old Ostapenko at the Wimbledon Championships playing for the 11th time. Her best achievement in this tournament is the semifinals in 2018, but Ostapenko has played in the quarterfinals twice more (in 2017 and 2024). Last year, Latvia’s best tennis player lost in the first round.
Darta, Ostapenko’s peer, has participated in the main event of this “Grand Slam” tournament seven times, managing to reach the third round twice (in 2019 and 2024). Last year, the Englishwoman also lost in the first round.
The two tennis players have met each other once. Three years ago, in the second round of the Eastbourne “WTA 250” tournament, Ostapenko prevailed 6-3, 6-4.
The winner of the pair was supposed to meet fellow host Emma Radukana, seeded 30th and ranked 33rd in the WTA, or Croatian Antonia Ruzic (WTA 61st) in the second round, but on Monday Radukana withdrew from the tournament due to a right lower leg injury.
Instead of Radukani, the match with Ružič will be played by the “lucky loser” of the qualification competition, Latvia’s second racket Darja Semenistaja (WTA 104).
Ostapenko has celebrated 20 victories in 34 matches this season, while Darta has won 20 of 36 fights.
It has already been reported that the second racket of Latvia, Darja Semenistaj, did not pass the third round in the qualification, but entered the main tournament as a “lucky loser”.
Ostapenko will also compete in the doubles tournament together with the American Sofia Kenina. The eighth-seeded pair will meet the international duo Nikola Bartunkova (Czech Republic)/Alexandra Eal (Philippines) in the first match.
The Wimbledon Championship is the third “Grand Slam” tournament of the season, which is played on grass courts.
