Jelena Ostapenko showed great confidence and variety in her game to routinely defeat second seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4 6-2 in the second round of the French Open and win a main-draw match at the clay-court Grand Slam for the first time since lifting the title here three years ago.
The world No.43 Ostapenko broke Pliskova’s serve at love to open the match. After multiple breaks on both sides the Latvian finally held serve for a 5-3 lead and proceeded to win the first set in 38 minutes. The second set was much less competitive, as Ostapenko never even faced a break point and punished Pliskova’s one-dimensional game by employing a vast spectrum of shots and techniques.