Number 6 seed Jelena Ostapenko came back from one set down to beat Sorana Cristea 2-6 6-2 6-4 after 1 hour and 58 minutes in the first round at the Adelaide International.
Ostapenko has won four of her five matches against Cristea. The 2017 Roland Garros champion avenged a defeat against Cristea in their most recent head-head-to-match at 2023 Wimbledon.
Cristea won four consecutive games from 2-2 with two breaks of serve and never faced a break point to win the opening set 6-2.
Ostapenko earned her first break point in the third game of the second set to take a 2-1 lead. The 2017 Roland Garros champion saved six break points in the fourth game to hold serve for 3-1.
Ostapenko broke serve in the seventh game and hit consecutive aces to close out the second set 6-2.
Both players traded breaks in the first two games of the third set. Ostapenko broke twice in the third and eighth games to take a 5-2 lead.
Ostapenko was broken while she was serving for the match, but she missed out on two match points at 5-3. The Latvian player earned a third chance at 5-4 with a forehand down the line winner and converted it with her sixth ace.
Ostapenko set up a second round match against Caroline Garcia, who came back from one set down to beat 18-year-old Australian wild-card Taylah Preston 6-4 1-6 6-3.
Laura Siegemund came back from one down to beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-7 (1-7) 6-4 6-4 after 2 hours and 53 minutes. Siegemund came back from breaks down in both the second and third sets to draw level to 2-2 in their four head-to-head matches.
Siegemund had a record of 3-0 in mixed doubles matches at last week’s United Cup.
Elaterina Alexandrova came back from one set down to beat Magda Linette 3-6 7-6 (10-8) 7-5 in 2 hours and 43 minutes. Alexandrova fended off four match points in the tie-break of the second set and came back from 3-5 down to take the third set 7-5.
Katerina Siniakova beat Karolina Pliskova 6-2 6-1. Pliskova, who reached the Australian Open quarter final in 2023, went a 2-0 lead In the first set, but Siniakova won 12 of the next 13 games. Siniakova reached the final in Hong Kong and won the Nanchang title. Siniakova set up Russian qualifier Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Taylor Townsend beat qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 7-6 (7-4). Townsend earned an early break in the second game to open up a 3-0 lead. Sasnovich broke back in the fifth game for 2-3. Townsend converted her third break point to open up a 4-2 lead. Sasnovich saved four set points in the eighth game at deuce for 3-5. Townsend served out the first set on her second set point.
Townsend broke serve in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Sasnovich broke back in the ninth game, as Townsend was serving for the match at 5-4. The tie-break started with two min-breaks. Townsend earned her second mini-break to take a 3-1 lead. Sasnovich pulled back on serve to draw level to 4-4. Townsend won the final three points to win the tie-break 7-4. The US player set up a second round match against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, who beat Anhelina Kalinina in her opening match.
