Amazing Comeback against Ostapenko

Karolína Plíšková already had one foot on her plane back to Prague, but in the end she continues in her campaign at the opening Grand Slam in Australia! But it was some battle in the third round in Melbourne against Jelena Ostapenko! The Czech goes through after winning the third set 10-8.

The nineteen-year-old Latvian played excellent tennis, incredibly aggressive, and was rewarded with a 6-4 win in the opener. The momentum then swung to the big-hitting Czech, who needed only 20 minutes to drop a bagel on the former Wimbledon junior champion. But the biggest drama was yet to come.

In the decider, Plíšková’s fans were on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Karolína was down, lost her serve twice, and Ostapenko was serving for the match at 5-2. At that time, thoughts about the next flight home were already coming to Karolína’s mind. “She played amazing tennis, much better than when we played last year in Cincinnati. She has improved a lot,” Plíšková knew, and it seemed she wouldn’t break the third-round Australian Open curse this year either.

But if someone wrote Karolína off at this moment, they were terribly mistaken. Ostapenko’s carefree approach suddenly vanished and the fighter from Louny bounced back, winning four games in a row. “I started to believe in the comeback after reducing the gap to 3-5. When I held my serve then, I got back into the match.” With the score at 6-5, Karolína even had a match point. She didn’t convert this one, but more match points were only a matter of time. Plíšková was serving perfectly, hitting a total of 19 aces, and capitalized on her second chance to clinch the third set during her opponent’s serve.

After winning 4-6, 6-0, 10-8, Karolína Plíšková makes it into the second week in Melbourne for the first time in her career. In the fourth-round tie she is going to meet Gavrilova, who will be supported by the frenetic home crowd. But Karolína is used to such an atmosphere, for instance from the Fed Cup. “I will get back to my attacking style,” Plíšková promises. Her Melbourne run already made her rise to number three in the WTA world rankings. For now.

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