Linda Noskova produced her third win over a top-10 player this season on her debut at the Stuttgart Open. The Czech has beaten world No. 10 Jelena Ostapenko to seal her place in the last-16 with a commanding straight-sets victory.
Niskova stunned world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the Australian Open third round this year en route to the quarter-finals as well as beating world No. 6 Maria Sakkari in Doha.
Jelena Ostapenko has been dumped out of the Stuttgart Open, losing to Linda Noskova 6-3 6-1 in the first round.
Ostapenko entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed, but the Latvian was far from her best against her 19-year-old opponent, losing the match in one hour and seven minutes.
Noskova, who has now registered her third top-10 win in 2024, will play either Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu or Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the last-16
“I was just trying to focus on the match, it was my first match on clay this year so I was just trying to be as careful and focussed as possible,” the world No. 31 said after her win.
“I was trying to get it under control at all times and not allow any chaos to come in.”
Noskova got off to a fast start in the match, reeling off the first four games of the set. Ostapenko broke back when Noskova held a 5-3 lead, but Noskova broke Ostapenko to love in the very next game to take the set.
Noskova played with even greater confidence in the second set, winning 82 per cent of her points on her first serve, and she won the first five games in a row.
Ostapenko won one game on her own serve to avoid being bagelled, before Niskova served out the match.
Leave a Reply