Sorana Kirstea reached the third round of Wimbledon for the fifth time in her career, and the 37th ranked player in the world explained how she managed to defeat Jelena Ostapenko (Roland Garros-2017 champion) for the first time.

Yelena Ostapenko “clicks at a certain moment”, says Sorana Kirstya

The athlete from Latvia has won the first three meetings with Sorana, but the Romanian says that Jelena “snaps” the moment she sees that her opponent manages to cope with her aggressive style of play.

“The player I haven’t beaten until today is quite a difficult player, from my point of view even extremely difficult. Since the last match in Rome, when we lost in the decider, I felt I could get closer to her, we trained together in Birmingham, where we also won. I felt that this time I could beat her.

It was one point to two in the first set and it was normal for me to be disappointed after the first set because I felt I was playing well, that I could beat her, but at the same time the score was on her side.

I said today that I’m not going to repeat the mistakes of the past, I said that I’m not going to give her a chance to be aggressive, to take control, and I tried to think that today is my day, I’m here to win this match and I have the weapons to do it .

She is the in-form player, the player with the most wins on grass. I knew it was going to be a tough match, that she just has a game plan, she’s very aggressive, but today I knew I had to serve well, be aggressive, try to come back on serve 2. She’s a player who can scare you, but if you will encounter it, at some point it will click.

I’m not thinking about a round 3 match at this point. Since yesterday, after the victory in the first round, everything has gone forward. The schedule came at 10. Now I need a day to sit on the ground, understand what is happening.

Tomorrow I will go to training and we will make a plan for the match with Haddad. I already played two matches with her, one lost, one won. She is a healthy player, plays well on grass, but at the moment I am more happy with today’s victory, and from tomorrow I will think about the 3rd round” – Sorana Kirstea for Eurosport.

Jelena Ostapenko – Sorana Kirstea 3-1

2023, Wimbledon: 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 for Kirsty

2023, Rome: 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 for Ostapenko

2017, Beijing: 6-4, 6-4 in favor of Ostapenko

2017, US Open: 6-4, 6-4 over Ostapenko.

>> ​Sorana Cîrstea explains the post that sparked outrage online

Know:

• Sorana also qualified for the third round of the All England Club in 2009, 2012, 2017 and 2021.

• For a place in the 1/8 finals, Kirstya will meet the Brazilian Beatrice Haddad Maia (13 WTA), who eliminated Jacqueline Christian in the second round.

• After qualifying for the third round, Sorana received a prize of £131,000 and 130 world ranking points.

• Thanks to Wimbledon, Sorana rose to 30th place in the WTA Live ranking.

• Romania at Wimbledon is also represented by Iryna Begu (2nd round) and Ana Bohdan (3rd round).

Wimbledon 2023 will take place from July 3 to 16, and HotNews.ro will keep you updated with the latest information from the All England Club every day.