Two first-round matches and three second-round matches were played at the Ostrava Open on Wednesday. Jelena Ostapenko and Alison Riske who respectively reached the finals of the Luxembourg Open and the Portoroz Open won their first-round matches The Latvian defeated Russian Anna Blinkova 6-4, 6-0 in 66 minutes.

Ostapenko lost her serve twice in the match but went on to break her opponent six times to wrap up the match in straight sets. In the second round, Ostapenko will play fourth seed Maria Sakkari. Meanwhile, in her opener, Riske needed three sets and two hours and 15 minutes to oust French qualifier, Fiona Ferro.

The American prevailed 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 and has set up a second-round meeting against Jil Teichmann.

Ostrava Open: Iga Swiatek makes a triumphant return

The top two seeds kicked off their campaign on a successful note in the Czech city.

Poland’s Iga Swiatek, who’s playing a tournament for the first time as the top seed, needed an hour and 47 minutes to post a 6-4, 6-4 win over Yulia Putintseva. Although the 2020 French Open champion won in straight sets, the Kazakh troubled her throughout the match.

Post-match, on-court, Swiatek said, “It was very tough. She was running to every ball – it was really hard to finish her, especially with such a slow surface. She could reach everything and she was fighting to the end – even on match point, I had to finish her, like, three times.

I’m really happy I won because normally it’s really hard for me to play with such players. I like to risk and with risking comes unforced errors, so it’s tough to get the balance between when to push and when to stay and wait for the opponent to miss”.

In the quarter-finals, Swiatek awaits either Magda Linette or seventh seed Elena Rybakina. Petra Kvitova, the second seed in Ostrava, had a lengthier match in comparison. The Czech notched a 6-1, 6-7(3), 6-3 win over Russian Anastasia Potapova in two hours and five minutes.

Kvitova raced away to a 6-1, 4-2 lead and it seemed as though the match would be done quickly. However, Potapova had her say as she turned around the match and took the second set in the tie-break, and even led by a break in the final set.

But Kvitova staunched the bleed and made a comeback that proved to be decisive in her favour, in the end. In the quarter-finals, the Czech will face either Teichmann or Riske. Ninth seed Paula Badosa’s Ostrava Open campaign ended with a round-of-16 loss at the hands of Anett Kontaveit on Wednesday.

The Estonian defeated the Spaniard 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 17 minutes. For a place in the semi-finals, Kontaveit will play either Sara Sorribes Tormo or third seed Belinda Bencic. Photo Credit: Ostrava Open Twitter