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Alona Ostapenko Photo: Rob Prange / AFP7 via ZUMA Press Wire
Alona Ostapenko, the first racket of Latvian women’s tennis, will meet with the Czech Barbora Krejčīkov on Friday in the fight for the eighth final of the Australian Open. The third round match at the Rod Laver Arena will start at 3:30 p.m. Latvian time.
Ostapenko is ranked 27th in the WTA and has finished 26th in the first Grand Slam of the season, while her opponent is ranked fourth in the WTA and fourth in the Australian Championship. The two tennis players have met three times before, with Ostapenko twice as superior. In the first two meetings in 2015, the Latvian tennis player won in two sets, but in the last mutual match in 2021 in the 1/16 final of the WTA 500 tournament in Dubai, the Czech was superior with 6-3, 6-1.
Ostapenko kicked off the season at the WTA 500 in Sydney, where he recognized the superiority of Paul Bados, a Spaniard, in the top ten in the world. In the same tournament, Badoschi lost to Finos in the final. Last season, Ostapenko won 33 of the 51 matches. The Czech Republic won 63 matches last year, of which 42 won.
Ostapenko is playing for the seventh time in her career at the Australian Open, and has made it to the third round twice in six previous years. Kreichchikova is participating in the Australian Open for the eighth time and has never been able to advance beyond the second round. Ostapenko has won four WTA titles in her career, while her opponent has three such titles.
The winner of the eighth final will meet with Belarusian tennis player Viktorija Azarenka (WTA 25th) or Ukrainian Yelina Switolina (WTA 17th), whose coach is former Latvian tennis player Andis Juška, and former Ernests Gulbis coach Ginters Bresniks is acting as a consultant.
In the first round, Ostapenko defeated Anna Karolina Šmīdlov with 6-7 (7: 9), 6-4, 6-1, but in the second round, US tennis player Alison Riska was defeated with 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Meanwhile, Krejchikov defeated German tennis player Andrei Petkovich (WTA 73) with 6-2, 6-0 and played Chinese Wang Xi (WTA 139) with 6-2, 6-3.
It has already been reported that the second racket of Latvia, Anastasia Sevastova, conceded to Magda Linete from Poland in the first round with 4-6, 5-7. In the doubles, Ostapenko defeated Victoria Viktor Golubich and Gila Teihman 6-3, 6-1 in the first round with Ukrainian Ludmila Kičenok. The Australian Open started on January 17 and will run until January 30
