Stuttgart (Germany), Apr 19 (IANS): Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who won the French Open back in 2017, secured a dominant 6-2 6-1 victory over former US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the opening round of the Stuttgart Open, which kicked off the European clay-court swing this week.
Ostapenko needed only 58 minutes to overpower Raducanu, who made the quarterfinals in Stuttgart last year. Behind 19 forehand winners, Ostapenko dominated play from the baseline to give Raducanu no inroads in the match.
"I knew against her the main thing was to step in the court. Of course, I missed some balls but I tried to be aggressive all the time when it was possible. Just try to take the ball early, don't give her many chances. And finally, I'm back on clay, my favorite surface," Ostapenko said after the win.
Ostapenko will next face World No.4 and Charleston champion Ons Jabeur on Wednesday.
As the Latvian eyes her first tour-level match on clay against Jabeur, Ostapenko should like her chances. The two have split their two recent meetings, with Jabeur winning on the indoor hard courts of Ostrava and Ostapenko winning their last match on grass in Eastbourne.
In 2017, Ostapenko came to Paris as a 19-year-old big-hitting talent and went on to celebrate her 20th birthday by defeating Simona Halep in the final to win Roland Garros.
At the time, Ostapenko was the youngest French Open champion in 20 years and the lowest-ranked Slam champion since the introduction of computer rankings.
"I was kind of fearless. I was not thinking too much," Ostapenko said when asked about her 2017 success. "I felt today a little bit that way. I was just going for the shots. Even if I was missing, I was, like, It's fine, I will still go for the shots.
Probably (need) to bring back this fearlessness, but of course it's tougher when you get older. You start to think more and of course you want to play better and more consistently,' she said.
In other action, Paula Badosa scored her first Top 10 win in 12 months after defeating Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-1 in just 70 minutes in the first round.
She will next face qualifier Cristina Bucsa in an all-Spanish encounter as she bids to return to the quarterfinals for a second straight year.