CINCINNATI, OH, USA – Jelena Ostapenko produced a stunning comeback to defeat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in a rollercoaster opening round at the Western & Southern Open.

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Trailing by a set and double break, it looked for all the world that Ostapenko’s debut at the Lindner Family Tennis Center was going to end in defeat. However, the bleakness of the situation seemed to rouse the Latvian into life, as she rescued the second set before conjuring an even more miraculous escapology act in the third to triumph, 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

Ostapenko, a former junior Wimbledon champion, has been ascending the professional ranks fast, establishing herself as the youngest player in the Top 50. Against Schmiedlova the baseline firepower was once again present – she finished with 45 winners. Unfortunately for the teenager, the unforced error count was even higher, and very nearly proved her undoing.

Schmiedlova, meanwhile, was far less flashy, and for the best part of an hour her consistency looked destined to triumph. “I’m sorry about the first set – I couldn’t put a ball in the court – but I’m really happy I saved two match points on her serve and fought to the end and that I could finish the match,” Ostapenko said.

This first set lasted less than 20 minutes, and when Ostapenko slipped 4-1 behind the second appeared certain to be equally swift. Standing on the precipice, Ostapenko produced her best, saving a couple of match points at 5-4 then rallying from 5-2 in the decider to complete an unlikely turnaround.

“I don’t know what was wrong with me today; I was losing but then when I was losing I was playing better. Then in the third set I was 2-0, 40-0 up on her serve. After that I lost five games in a row. I know what happened. But then I started to fight again and I’m glad I could win the match,” she added.

Her reward for the comeback is a second-round meeting with No.15 seed Karolina Pliskova.