Teenager Mirra Andreeva defeats reigning champion Jelena Ostapenko in a three-set thriller to advance at the Stuttgart Open.
MIRRA Andreeva claimed a battling 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 win in the first round of the Stuttgart Open on Wednesday to eliminate reigning champion Jelena Ostapenko.
After winning the 500-level event in Linz last week, the world number nine has started her clay-court season in fine fettle.
Andreeva raced into a 2-0 lead in the round of 32 match in Germany, before Ostapenko clawed back level.
But the 18-year-old immediately regained the initiative by breaking in the fifth game to edge ahead once more.
The Russian creaked at the last though as back-to-back double faults when serving for the opening set at 5-4 and deuce let Ostapenko back in.
Ostapenko took full advantage of that reprieve by winning the next two games to claim the set, sealing the deal with a brutal cross-court backhand winner on Andreeva’s serve.
Andreeva hit back by breaking the Latvian in the third game of the second frame.
Despite another untimely double fault at deuce when serving for the set, Andreeva held her nerve this time to hold and force a decider.
After exchanging breaks early in the third set, Andreeva pounced on Ostapenko’s serve to get ahead 5-4 as she claimed victory in her first-ever meeting with the 2017 Roland Garros champion.
She will next face Alycia Parks, after the American defeated home hope Noma Noha Akugue in straight sets.
Earlier, fifth seed Jasmine Paolini collapsed to a first-round 6-2, 6-2 defeat against world number 79 Zeynep Sonmez.
Iga Swiatek, the 2022 and 2023 Stuttgart champion, begins her campaign in the second round against Laura Siegemund later Wednesday, before fourth seed Elina Svitolina meets Eva Lys, also in the round of 16.
